737 lifestyle
10-12-2023, 05:51 AM
#2
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Nov 2022
Posts: 144
Originally Posted by maxjet
What is the Schedule like on the 737? What genre of 737 are they? Is there potentially an upgrade possibility during the 2 year seat lock?
The seat lock is waived if you can hold upgrade during that time, but I believe it's still about 3 years to upgrade currently.
10-15-2023, 05:47 PM
#4
Line Holder
Joined APC: Jun 2022
Posts: 31
Originally Posted by Puck Hawg
Is the 73 fleet growing? I hear it’s pretty decent….mostly day flying, quick hops.
01-04-2024, 10:17 AM
#5
New Hire
Joined APC: Mar 2018
Position: KC-135 Co-Pilot
Posts: 9
New 737 FO starting training here in a few weeks. I'm curious what kind of quality of life advantages living in hub (Cincinnati initially it sounds like) has over commuting. Specific 737 questions:
- How often generally do 737 trips overnight in domicile (i.e. sleep at home)?
- Are there ever days off in domicile in the middle of a trip?
- I've read reserve runs rather senior...is this also the case on the 737? If so, any idea seniority wise when one would be able to hold a reserve line?
- R2 (might have the code wrong) is a 90 minute call out, is that correct? I'm guessing for sleeping at home on reserve you'd need to live within 1+15'ish of the airport...does that check?
- Familiar with gateway travel. Curious how easy/common it is to bid for later shows on day 1 to avoid the extra day commuting out the day before?
- How long for an FO to hold a Portland domicile?
- How does catering work? Usually 2 meals like breakfast and lunch? Healthy'ish or not so much?
01-05-2024, 07:29 AM
#6
On Reserve
Joined APC: Jan 2022
Posts: 24
Originally Posted by GoodSplash9
New 737 FO starting training here in a few weeks. I'm curious what kind of quality of life advantages living in hub (Cincinnati initially it sounds like) has over commuting. Specific 737 questions:
- How often generally do 737 trips overnight in domicile (i.e. sleep at home)?
- Are there ever days off in domicile in the middle of a trip?
- I've read reserve runs rather senior...is this also the case on the 737? If so, any idea seniority wise when one would be able to hold a reserve line?
- R2 (might have the code wrong) is a 90 minute call out, is that correct? I'm guessing for sleeping at home on reserve you'd need to live within 1+15'ish of the airport...does that check?
- Familiar with gateway travel. Curious how easy/common it is to bid for later shows on day 1 to avoid the extra day commuting out the day before?
- How long for an FO to hold a Portland domicile?
- How does catering work? Usually 2 meals like breakfast and lunch? Healthy'ish or not so much?
Overnights in base depend on your bid/awarded schedule. Some lines have you overnight in CVG every other day while some never see it.
You could get an extended layover or rest period (32 hours every 7 days), but there's no gaurantee it'll be in base. You could also get a split schedule that breaks up your line into two or three shorter trips throughout the month and you're off at home in between.
Reserve seniority and rules... not very familiar with that yet.
Late shows on day 1/early shows on day 2 are pretty common, so pretty likely you'd be able to bid that once you get a little seniority.
From what I've seen so far, FOs can hold Portland within a few months of completing training.
Catering on the 73 is a hot topic right now... It's mostly sandwiches, fruit, and drinks. Sometimes salads. Any leg scheduled for more than 4.5hrs block is supposed to get a hot meal, but only a third of the planes have an oven. Crews used to get a $50 meal authorization but that was before my time, rumor is the union is working on getting that back.
01-05-2024, 11:05 AM
#7
Line Holder
Joined APC: Jun 2022
Posts: 31
Originally Posted by RustyShacklford
I'm fairly new but can answer some of this:
Overnights in base depend on your bid/awarded schedule. Some lines have you overnight in CVG every other day while some never see it.
You could get an extended layover or rest period (32 hours every 7 days), but there's no gaurantee it'll be in base. You could also get a split schedule that breaks up your line into two or three shorter trips throughout the month and you're off at home in between.
Reserve seniority and rules... not very familiar with that yet.
Late shows on day 1/early shows on day 2 are pretty common, so pretty likely you'd be able to bid that once you get a little seniority.
From what I've seen so far, FOs can hold Portland within a few months of completing training.
Catering on the 73 is a hot topic right now... It's mostly sandwiches, fruit, and drinks. Sometimes salads. Any leg scheduled for more than 4.5hrs block is supposed to get a hot meal, but only a third of the planes have an oven. Crews used to get a $50 meal authorization but that was before my time, rumor is the union is working on getting that back.
Overnights in base depend on your bid/awarded schedule. Some lines have you overnight in CVG every other day while some never see it.
You could get an extended layover or rest period (32 hours every 7 days), but there's no gaurantee it'll be in base. You could also get a split schedule that breaks up your line into two or three shorter trips throughout the month and you're off at home in between.
Reserve seniority and rules... not very familiar with that yet.
Late shows on day 1/early shows on day 2 are pretty common, so pretty likely you'd be able to bid that once you get a little seniority.
From what I've seen so far, FOs can hold Portland within a few months of completing training.
Catering on the 73 is a hot topic right now... It's mostly sandwiches, fruit, and drinks. Sometimes salads. Any leg scheduled for more than 4.5hrs block is supposed to get a hot meal, but only a third of the planes have an oven. Crews used to get a $50 meal authorization but that was before my time, rumor is the union is working on getting that back.
As far as reserve goes, I wouldn't call it senior. There is a guy below me who has only ever bid reserve and has been awarded it. I've only been here for just under a year and he's been bidding that for probably 6+ months and been getting it. Unless you live in base or don't mind sitting in hotels for days, I wouldn't bid R2. It is more pay because of CRT, but if you live outside of base, you could be sitting in the hotel for 2, 3, 4 days or who knows how long, doing nothing. Now if you live in base, then it couldn't be any better lol. I also don't recall seeing many reserve lines in PDX, so keep that in mind.
R2 is the code for hotel reserve, 90 min callout, so yeah, living near the airport will help.
Just plan on commuting on day 0 and day last+1, meaning losing two extra days a month. There are some lines where you can commute in day 1, but that isn't all the time and that's because the flight is a 10-11pm wakeup, so you have a late overnight flight. Plenty of times you will get back into CVG too late on day last to catch a flight out and will end up leaving the following morning. Again, living in base eliminates this.
With all this said, our lines change EVERY month, so nothing is ever the same. You could have amazing lines 2 months in a row where you lose no days to commuting, and then the next month you lose days to commuting. Also, there have been A LOT of split lines occuring the past few months. Meaning 10-12 days on and 7-8 days off. These lines are nice, but if you commute, it adds a whole lot of extra commuting and loss of days off.
If you can live in base, just live in CVG. It's a nice area and you will have the easiest job of your life.
01-05-2024, 06:04 PM
#8
New Hire
Joined APC: Mar 2018
Position: KC-135 Co-Pilot
Posts: 9
Rusty and Pepper....thanks for the replies, super useful information for me with life planning! My family is currently living in a large 5th wheel RV, so we can live wherever we want. I'll be parking it and living in it in Miami with my family for training. I'm pretty familiar with Gateway travel and commuting timelines...really just trying to evaluate how living in CVG can improve quality of life versus using Gateway travel from somewhere different. I'm honestly leaning towards moving to CVG and buying some property within 60-75 minutes of the airport. Thanks again guys, cheers!
Originally Posted by RustyShacklford
I'm fairly new but can answer some of this:
Overnights in base depend on your bid/awarded schedule. Some lines have you overnight in CVG every other day while some never see it.
You could get an extended layover or rest period (32 hours every 7 days), but there's no gaurantee it'll be in base. You could also get a split schedule that breaks up your line into two or three shorter trips throughout the month and you're off at home in between.
Reserve seniority and rules... not very familiar with that yet.
Late shows on day 1/early shows on day 2 are pretty common, so pretty likely you'd be able to bid that once you get a little seniority.
From what I've seen so far, FOs can hold Portland within a few months of completing training.
Catering on the 73 is a hot topic right now... It's mostly sandwiches, fruit, and drinks. Sometimes salads. Any leg scheduled for more than 4.5hrs block is supposed to get a hot meal, but only a third of the planes have an oven. Crews used to get a $50 meal authorization but that was before my time, rumor is the union is working on getting that back.
Overnights in base depend on your bid/awarded schedule. Some lines have you overnight in CVG every other day while some never see it.
You could get an extended layover or rest period (32 hours every 7 days), but there's no gaurantee it'll be in base. You could also get a split schedule that breaks up your line into two or three shorter trips throughout the month and you're off at home in between.
Reserve seniority and rules... not very familiar with that yet.
Late shows on day 1/early shows on day 2 are pretty common, so pretty likely you'd be able to bid that once you get a little seniority.
From what I've seen so far, FOs can hold Portland within a few months of completing training.
Catering on the 73 is a hot topic right now... It's mostly sandwiches, fruit, and drinks. Sometimes salads. Any leg scheduled for more than 4.5hrs block is supposed to get a hot meal, but only a third of the planes have an oven. Crews used to get a $50 meal authorization but that was before my time, rumor is the union is working on getting that back.
Originally Posted by Majicalpepper
I'll tack on a few points. Living in base is definitely better. There are some lines that are out and backs from CVG. Some lines will you get home every other day. On an average line, you will likely return to CVG at least once or twice throughout your pattern. PDX doesn't have the greatest lines and you have a lot more to choose from in CVG. I wouldn't recommend PDX unless you live near there.
As far as reserve goes, I wouldn't call it senior. There is a guy below me who has only ever bid reserve and has been awarded it. I've only been here for just under a year and he's been bidding that for probably 6+ months and been getting it. Unless you live in base or don't mind sitting in hotels for days, I wouldn't bid R2. It is more pay because of CRT, but if you live outside of base, you could be sitting in the hotel for 2, 3, 4 days or who knows how long, doing nothing. Now if you live in base, then it couldn't be any better lol. I also don't recall seeing many reserve lines in PDX, so keep that in mind.
R2 is the code for hotel reserve, 90 min callout, so yeah, living near the airport will help.
Just plan on commuting on day 0 and day last+1, meaning losing two extra days a month. There are some lines where you can commute in day 1, but that isn't all the time and that's because the flight is a 10-11pm wakeup, so you have a late overnight flight. Plenty of times you will get back into CVG too late on day last to catch a flight out and will end up leaving the following morning. Again, living in base eliminates this.
With all this said, our lines change EVERY month, so nothing is ever the same. You could have amazing lines 2 months in a row where you lose no days to commuting, and then the next month you lose days to commuting. Also, there have been A LOT of split lines occuring the past few months. Meaning 10-12 days on and 7-8 days off. These lines are nice, but if you commute, it adds a whole lot of extra commuting and loss of days off.
If you can live in base, just live in CVG. It's a nice area and you will have the easiest job of your life.
As far as reserve goes, I wouldn't call it senior. There is a guy below me who has only ever bid reserve and has been awarded it. I've only been here for just under a year and he's been bidding that for probably 6+ months and been getting it. Unless you live in base or don't mind sitting in hotels for days, I wouldn't bid R2. It is more pay because of CRT, but if you live outside of base, you could be sitting in the hotel for 2, 3, 4 days or who knows how long, doing nothing. Now if you live in base, then it couldn't be any better lol. I also don't recall seeing many reserve lines in PDX, so keep that in mind.
R2 is the code for hotel reserve, 90 min callout, so yeah, living near the airport will help.
Just plan on commuting on day 0 and day last+1, meaning losing two extra days a month. There are some lines where you can commute in day 1, but that isn't all the time and that's because the flight is a 10-11pm wakeup, so you have a late overnight flight. Plenty of times you will get back into CVG too late on day last to catch a flight out and will end up leaving the following morning. Again, living in base eliminates this.
With all this said, our lines change EVERY month, so nothing is ever the same. You could have amazing lines 2 months in a row where you lose no days to commuting, and then the next month you lose days to commuting. Also, there have been A LOT of split lines occuring the past few months. Meaning 10-12 days on and 7-8 days off. These lines are nice, but if you commute, it adds a whole lot of extra commuting and loss of days off.
If you can live in base, just live in CVG. It's a nice area and you will have the easiest job of your life.
01-15-2024, 11:40 AM
#9
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2011
Posts: 278
Originally Posted by Majicalpepper
FOs are getting an average of 13-17 days off. Captains are more like 15-19. We have 8 or 9 73s, but it's not growing. The flying depends. There's plenty of overnight midnight-7am stuff, but more so 8am show time done by 5-7pm. There are plenty of one and dones, but there are also some 2 legs. Haven't done anything more than that. The longest flight we have is just over 5 hours. Plenty of 3-4 hour legs. Plenty of 2-2.5 hour legs. It really just depends and you will likely get a mix of everything. If you don't like overnights, especially night hub turns, you can usually avoid it. There are some later night flights and overnights you simply can't avoid.
01-15-2024, 02:51 PM
#10
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2007
Position: 767 FO
Posts: 836
Originally Posted by El Pilot
Can the days be batched together like 7 off back to rotation and another 7 off? Asking because I want to commute from SA using gateway travel and I heard 737 is junior. It's only a 2:45 minute flight to miami with many backups. thanks for the reply.
The only thing that is CBA protected is a minimum of 4 days off between blocks of flying and a minimum of 13 days off per month. How the line builders construct lines after that is a monthly mystery. Everything is subject to change... and will.
That being said, the 737 and 767 domestic schedules are built quite similarly. You should have blocks on of 4-12 days and blocks off of 4-10 days. Things must be slow in February because the current 737 CVG FO bid has 9 lines with 18-20 days off.
Yea, you can commute from South America to the states, but it'll be CVG or PDX for the 737. 767 TPA lines now have First day and Last Day MIA Deadheads. Best bet if you don't get the 777 or 747 as a new hire is to bid into one of them into MIA after your two year seat lock is up.
All fleets are junior by the way, as are most bases. It's just that very few FOs stay in the 737 past their seat lock.
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