Look at it this way: you're going to take a seniority hit that will be with you for 20-30 years for a benefit that may last as little as a year. (I realize it may be longer. Right now, the plan is for you to be able to bid AA bases late 2016-early 2017.) If it were me, I'd get on the seniority list at the first opportunity.

 

Bad move bro. Bet on not getting on the AA side...at least not until the SLI is done. Besides most AA flow throughs are going to MIA or NYC. A lot of those guys live here in DFW. One class of seniority can mean the difference in bidding. When you get a class date...TAKE IT!

 

As others said, I wouldn't wait. The main reason to me is that you aren't really an AA pilot until your first day of class. If some event happened and they CNX Classes for for awhile (think 911) you could loose the CJO.

You will easily be able to mitigate the pain of commuting with Mil leave.

Here are a few positives about LUS. You will make second year pay 2 months earlier, which adds up over your first 12 years. You'll get a DC contribution your first year to your 401K, probably $6 to $9k. By the way, they actually pay you that while you are on mil leave. So if you take a month of mil leave, you'll earn nothing at the airline but still get 5 or $600 in your 401k. Compound the 401k over 30 years and that first year will actually be pretty significant. You'll fly an AB or 190, both are very pilot friendly and easy to fly, plus the training is easy (you definitely do not "build the plane"). The commute from DFW is easy, I recomend PHL over CLT for better QOL.

By the way, I certainly hope they fix the DC issue and LOS for AA guys.

 

Take the first class. Ask the guys who had class dates of 9/12/2001.

Or ask the guys who had a job offer from airline A and are still waiting for a class date. And six months ago airline B called them, they took the job, and they're line holders in their home town while airline A STILL hasn't given them a class date.

Take the first class you can get. If your dream job shows up a month or two later quit and move on. The decision to leave gets tougher and tougher the longer you're at the first airline. I personally know four guys who are in the exact situation. Two have made the decision to stay with their current jobs (not their first choice) and the clock is still ticking on the other two. One is probably going to stay with the current job and the other guy has about a six month clock running after which he'll stay with his current job.

 

Great words guys. thank you for providing some real reasoning. I didn't think of many of those points. The US side sounds WAY better than I initially thought.

 

Can someone explain the new permanent bid with 35 new hires on the US side? Are those vacancies that will be filled with new hires in the near future (June, July classes perhaps)? Or do those refer to people that are already in class?

 

That's a good question...I would say it includes the guys in class. Sounds like the right amount of numbers since the last bid who have come onboard


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

The 35 new hires are the ones that have started class since the last bid.

 

This is great, and it's also the law. So I'm glad they are complying with USERRA.

 

Huh....had no idea. That's good to know though


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk