Build a time machine, go to your 65th birthday, see which airline is still around and/or which would have offered better seniority progression

​​​​​​Barring that, which has better base options for you and family
Barring that, who gives you a class date first.

It's a crapshoot. Both good options.

Numbers I'm hearing tossed about DL training dept for near term hiring are insane. But....I suspect that's the same everywhere.

Beat of luck

Second this right here

You’re asking to throw out the single most important factor. That’s like asking which steakhouse is the best if you take out how good the steak is and rate it only on the sides and salad.

Had CJOs from multiple companies, including DAL, UA, and that cargo outfit in Memphis. Picked DAL because I live in base.

Now if you aren’t tied to a location or desire a specific spot and are truly apathetic, here’s .02:

Financials: hard to say post covid, but prior to it, both companies were profitable. Delta was doing better overall which showed in our profit sharing. (Post mergers, we’ve always made more money and distributed more profit sharing than UA)

Growth: UA just placed a massive order of planes, but look to AA to see how that works out sometimes. Having brand new jets that no one wants to ride on isn’t ideal. Delta tends to look for “the deal” (see 717s, initial 220 order, our recent 737/350 buy, etc). I see both companies expanding at similar rates long term, and hiring will be robust at both. UA will probably be a bit ahead short term due to them being in a better position for the recovery (what’s an SIL?).

Retirements: DAL will average 500 a year until 2030, while UA will be closer to 600 per year. However, Delta also had almost 2,000 pilots take an early retirement. If I were just getting on with a company, the movement at Delta is going to be incredible with all the positions we still need to backfill. UA movement will also be swift, but I think we have the edge if you were just getting hired.

Culture: Unless you can find someone that spent a considerable amount of time at both, this is all personal opinion. Like any job, you’ll find people you really enjoy working with, and others you’d rather not.

Contract: Similar contracts. They have some better perks like more meals, extra pay for middle seat DHs, etc., but their reserve rules leave something to be desired, comparatively. We get more profit sharing than UA. Both unions are in contract negotiations, and will most certainly have nearly identical contracts again.

Equipment: UA has more WB aircraft, and DAL will never surpass them. If your desire is to be a WB A as soon as possible and nothing else, you’ll get their faster at UA. Starting equipment for UA is usually 737/320 to EWR and SFO, Delta is usually 220/737/320/7ER to NYC.

Training: Atlanta vs Denver. Delta still pays a “training pay” of $5K a month until you finish IOE. UA pays year one pay to start. Delta recently announced that new hires won’t have to pay for their initial qual hotel anymore (something UA has done for awhile). Both training programs will be similar, as it’s AQP.

BL, I don’t think you could go wrong with either choice. I’m happy I went with DAL, but I’d imagine I’d be happy at UA as well. I have friends their that say the same.

One add - if you're looking at being initially placed in an undesirable base (NYC, SEA for example) based on where you live, we have positive space commuting guaranteed through Sept 2022. Granted with the massive hiring we have coming up you could probably move out of that base pretty quickly, but that's not always guaranteed. Say if you get awarded NYC220 and you want anything ATL, you'll have to wait a year before you can bid out to another fleet type. Positive space commuting during the suckiest part of your time at Delta can really make a big difference.

Is this Hattori Hanzo sword as good as yours?

Third!


Filler

Meh. Even those who live in base may often commute for a long time due to upgrade, international, relative seniority, working the system, etc. While living in base is nice all things equal, different airlines at different times with different bases are almost never all things equal.

More important than the niceties of living in base, by far, is one's psychological approach to it. If your entire worldview gets nuked into a manic depressive flat spin out to sea if you can't make your anticipated get home flight or if you have to occasionally spend for a hotel despite making between a quarter and a half million a year, then that settles it; you must live in base. If, however, you have the ability to improvise adapt and overcome things as world rocking as the occasional minor convenience, sometimes living where you want and commuting to a certain BES relative seniority microclimate can be vastly superior.

This is about as fair an analysis as you can find without spending three hours and a powerpoint presentation.

Took the assessment Tuesday (8/3) and received the interview invite today (8/6). Super excited and nervous! Has anyone that’s interviewed recently found a good hotel that provides the shuttle to HQ? The few I’ve called do not…

With the new referral system through Airline Apps, does it still work the same way that once the internal gets submitted your app gets scored? Is it still 1 year for a re-score if it doesn't trigger an interview?