rvr1800

B6 current rates

PlaneS

Revisiting this thread for a moment - if one has no desire to fly widebody in the long run, would that change the conversation at all? Driving to work in BOS at B6 with the ability to pick up 200% VDA vs commuting/a long drive to JFK 320/737/757/767....green slips go out what, 2 days in advance now? Does this level the playing field? TIA

Avgeek7248

personally I’d take the drive to work. I love this company but if I was hard stuck on a location and one airline had a base and the other I had to commute for I’d take the drive over a career. Everyone’s different.

usmc-sgt

1: Driving to work, always. And twice on Sunday.

2: Unless it’s a regional.

3: Delta only if:
A: you plan to eventually move.
B: you’re willing to bet it all they open KBOS

4: If widebody is a goal, and you’re young, don’t rule out JetBlue. I don’t believe many on this forum would bet against B6 having widebodies on property within 10 years.

Baradium

I'd stick with Delta. Who knows what's going to happen in 20 years, but pilots at Delta choose to commute to widebody over in base at a narrowbody so all of those pilots alone would choose Delta and are admitting living in base isn't everything. I would add in our work rules and commuting policy if you don't like widebody.

zulu99

PB came into our captain charm school recently and was implicitly asked (by me) about the reality of a BOS base coming up. He said, it is now completely off the table. Post covid, BOS has grown so much more with International departures that it doesnt make sense to open a base. That rational didnt make sense to me, when queried further he expounded on the fact that it's more cost effective to layover pilots than to create a pilot base in this particular hub.

Just the messenger with no real skin in the BOS game other than it would help my NYC seniority even more if the senior guys bailed to a BOS base.

170Till5

Delta is going to get a Boston base once they get more 321 neo’s. They need 50+ departures a day to get an Airbus base opened up there. I would bet within 2 years this happens

Nick Bradshaw

Jeez, how many time is this going to get debated.

They won't open a BOS base because it IS cheaper to overnight crews. Opening a base would incur huge moving expenses in one of the most expensive parts of the country. It would also suck the life out of the NYC NB base as everyone north or east of NYC (a large proportion of the NY base) would bid to BOS for a much easier commute. Seems that most of the NBs in BOS are 220s or RJs anyhow. The 320s and 757s do transcons and can be staffed from anywhere. Most of the international will continue to be operated via W trips, so that doesn't even factor into the calculation and we aren't going to get more gates at E anyhow.

The biggest problem in BOS is real estate. Or lack thereof. The Taj Mullin is maxed out and there's no way to expand it unless FDX gets kicked out of their digs. The alley is a disaster during busy pushes. If only Leo hadn't given our large and old, but still functional terminal to the competition and their blue jets.

Finally, reopening the BOS base would require them to admit they were wrong in closing it in the first place. We know this company struggles greatly with that. They'll double down over and over and gladly spend the money rather than admit they were wrong about something.

Now getting back to the question JB or DL? As yourself how many years you have left and where you see both airlines when you retire. You may be leaving a lot of money on the table over your career in pursuit of a drive to work. But will the airline still be there for you in 20+ years?

Scoop

Couldnt this expense be greatly minimized by opening the base at a very small size for the first year or so and then grow it after it is no longer "new?" Other than moving costs I would say the next biggest cost is reserve Pilot staffing. We already have FAs based there and it could be a satellite of NYC as far as the CPO office goes - so who knows long term.

Scoop

FangsF15

Exactly, a cagegory is only "New" for 60 days. All they have to do is open the category with 10-15 crews, wait 61 days, and then make it however big they want, and they only have to pay to move a small handful of crews (and you can bet a decent percentage of that intital small bid will be locals who won't move, and/or won't live outside 50 miles from BOS). PWA 22.A.16 and 6.B

Huh? If you've been in BOS lately, you haven't been paying attention, or haven't actually been to terminal A. BOS has more 320 departures than SEA does, where there is a 320 base... Were it not for Covid, there would be a BOS base today. They had already hired a CP and leased space for office/lounge.