Coming in with 1000+ 121 SIC. I know they require 500 Breeze time in the 220. Is there enough attrition to get a quicker upgrade? I heard as of now its based on seniority.

 

Aren’t they ALPA? I think it’s safe to assume that it’s as of forever.

 

we still do not have a CBA and the company still does what ever the hael they want to

 

Many FO's are holding out on upgrade due to QOL going to dog sheet and not being able to hold their current base. Even the most senior ones in the company. Coming in with at least 1000 121, you will get it rather quickly as long as you are good with being based in CAK or one of the other bases nobody would ever in their right mind want to live in. We are Allegiant 2.0 after all

 

If you upgrade at mins, enjoy life of reserve, and if you do get a line, enjoy 4 hours of credit 4/5 day trips!! lol!

 

Upgrade is driven sby seniority, not previous flight time. There are currently approximately 625 pilots on the seniority list, which means a new hire FO effectively has about 300 FOs ahead of them before upgrade becomes realistic. Based on recent trends, typical upgrade time is running around two years.

However, many FOs are intentionally delaying upgrade. The primary reason is quality of life: most want to wait until they can reasonably expect to hold a captain line rather than spending an extended period on captain reserve. Others delay to avoid the career risk of a failed upgrade checkride, especially if they’re considering leaving for another carrier.

As a result, you’ll occasionally see junior captain slots trickle down, but those pilots tend to sit on reserve for a long time. When more senior FOs finally do upgrade, those junior captains often get pushed even further down the captain list.

Reserve QOL is highly base-dependent:

If you live in base, reserve can actually be very manageable.

If you commute, reserve quality of life is usually quite poor.

On the upside, there are rumors of significant attrition combined with 14 new aircraft expected in 2026. With each aircraft creating six additional captain positions, that’s up to 84 new captain slots, which could meaningfully accelerate upgrade times.

 

Do you know how many FOs currently have a bid in for upgrade? And do the rumors of high attrition have much truth to it?

I was also thinking that a lot of the FOs Breeze hires are either CFIs or 135 pilots so a lot of those pilots wont have the required 1000 121 before I do I guess? Would I still upgrade before them?

 

in the 6 months I’ve been here I’ve moved up 7% (all pilot seniority) just from people leaving. Probably 10% leave in 1st half of 2026. A ton of us FOs have CJOs with the majors so the bottom of the pilot group keeps falling out from under you which doesn’t equate to a huge seniority gain when you upgrade. I did the math and if I upgraded early I’d be on reserve for about 5 years.

The CAs won’t leave because they rationalize the beatings they take with seniority and ‘I make enough to be happy’. A ton of the early guys came from skywest so having seniority and not making $19/hr anymore is as good as it gets, why would they ever leave 4 stripes for 3?

 

And you sound like you’ve been in the Industry for about 6 months too…

 

their words not mine