GS best. Looks like they will be very short in July

I crew> schedules > open time > open reserve days ... Ugh, but why?.

BB....You are correct yet again. Let's be honest. A merger with the Alaska guys would effectively end our career progression. (Bottom 1000-2000 guys) It is not realistic to think we would hold much seniority over any Alaska new hires. They are still hiring as we speak. Sticking around DAL at that point would only be a stop gap until UAL/AA picked you up. As we sit today, a new hire at UAL will have greater seniority in 6 months of hiring than the entire 2010 hiring group has after 3 years. I cannot picture sitting junior reserve in NYC for the next decade plus....:confused:

I sure hope so, I left the maddog 2 years ago, and came back to the ridiculous mandatory VNAV to the marker. Last week we had a jet w inop auto throttles for 2 legs. The Capt could not figure out how to make the airplane climb or descend in IAS. Even with me trying to subtly coach, it was borderline unsafe and we had a couple near deviations. Not his fault, he probably literally used IAS once in training 3 years ago, never to use it again. That skill set evaporated from the fleet in a hurry.

Even after being back in the 88 for 4 months I feel like the VNAV once in the terminal area is more pain than it is worth. It's an idle descent, why do I need to have a "mandatory" heads down typing/what's it doing procedure for that? Plus who the hell thinks selecting direct to a fix you aren't going to go direct to is a good idea?

"I know I can trick ******* this maddog into flying like a 757 somehow..."

Mandatory?? I almost never use VNAV in the terminal area and nobody's ever said a word about it to me....

When I left in 2011, there were just rumblings of the VNAV push, but it seemed pretty gimmicky and useful only in certain situations to me. When I did the requal sims the instructors never said anything about our use of IAS until the LOE, then there was some post flight hinting that he was shocked we didn't use VNAV.

When I came back thru OE in Feb, I used IAS, thinking same old same old. The LCA basically said- Nice, now do it the right way with VNAV.

Since then I think I've seen one Capt use IAS, and he was an old SLC refugee who moved up to MSP.

And if you ever fly a MSP trip and start using IAS, take a peek at the Capt- I will bet he is looking at you like you are a monkey f--ing a football.

When they closed BOS, I bid ATL, figuring, well, at least they'll never close ATL!

Then after the merger, they moved half my category to...

DTW! :rolleyes:

Never say Never.

And if any tool ever said to me, "Commuting is a Choice", I think I'd have to punch him the face. You KNOW their 5 year plan changes every 3 weeks.

Your mileage may vary, but here's what happened to me. My first airline told me during my interview that I'd be a heavy jet captain in two years or less. They'd been steadily hiring for a few years. I was furloughed 6 months later and 4 times total for my 4 years there. My third airline (NWA) told us during indoc that we will probably be furloughed after OE because they were pretty fat on pilots. Two months later they said they needed to hire 50 per month for the foreseeable future...and they did. Nearly doubled the seniority list in under 5 years.

If I was starting out today, I would not look at what's happening today. I would look at who has the ability and desire to grow and viciously compete. That's the airline I would try to join.

Carl

We all better apply to Emirates!

Carl, great advice!
Caac, you hit the nail on the head!

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