I think you are correct about FLL. They are building another finger of gates to your operation as we speak.

The construction is going fast. The negative for me is that they will probably move the employee lot off the airport again once the construction is complete!

 

I'm actually doing just that. It was good for a while. This 'job' has taught me that there are better dreams in life. imo
Sometimes you have to be there to realize it , though. Be thankful for what you got, I guess.

No consolation to the guys that won't be able to see it or those who will see it for just a short time due to bad dal scope.

 

I totally hear ya man. I always wanted to fly a tri-jet internationally for as long as I could remember and I was fortunate to have had the chance to fly an MD-11 for 8 months at an ACMI cargo company between getting out of the Air Force and getting hired at Southwest. I saw 5 continents and 30 countries in the matter of 5 months and while it was super cool at first there was not a moment that I wouldn't have rather been at home with my family on our boat. International wide body flying is cool, but in my opinion the novelty of everything eventually wears off and if it's something that takes you away from your family, friends, and hobbies it will always be a job. I do like the idea of the schedule that comes with Legacy widebody flying though.

 

International isn't the be all end all for everybody. I knew guys in my peer group that bid ER FO way back when, and couldn't wait to get off of it. HATED international. The OP has stated that he flew international prior to his SWA gig and the 'novelty wore off'. Not saying anything bad about your recommendation, but just realize that not everybody aspires to live on the backside of the clock and manage naps for a living.

That being said, a lot of pilots use JetBlue to commute to NY from Florida and love it. NY is much much easier from FL than ATL unless you are senior and can get the JS at .00000000001second past noon.

The OP actually sounds like he is thinking this thru.

 

I think you just answered your own question.

 

[QUOTE=FLY6584;2181689]I'm not sure if anyone is interested in seeing this, but I ran overall system seniority for a guy hired at Delta today vs a guy hired at Southwest 10 months ago. Both with approximately 33 years left of flying. I then compared that system seniority to what it took to hold each aircraft and seat in ATL compared to what it took to hold each seat in one of our junior bases (HOU) and senior bases (MCO) at Southwest.

I was surprised to see that narrowbody progression at Delta in ATL closely mirrors our career progression at one of our junior bases here at Southwest. It also appears that widebody flying will make up a small part of your career at Delta if you are unwilling to sit at the bottom of the list. Keep in mind this is only in ATL though. NYC would be totally different. And also keep in mind this assumes 1% growth per year at Southwest and obviously doesn't take into account another merger/acquisition. I also realize the Delta calculator doesn't take into account front end hiring and is based off hiring for retirements alone.

Hope this helps anyone else trying to figure out what to do!



There's a better website for calculating your potential career path at Delta but you have input your employee number. It was eye opening to see it's forecasts. It's based on current fleets, bases, position, and compares it to the current spread of where pilots are and their retirement schedule.
Here's a recap, if you have dreams of flying a wide body and are over the age of 35, your dream will be crushed here. Unless you have no need to hold a quality schedule, the vacation weeks you desire, and don't mind being junior reserve FO at age 43.
Example I'm 40 for DTW 777 FO, I can't hold it till 2023. DTW 777 CA, not until 2038!! And that's to be the plug. Meanwhile I can be the most junior DTW 717 CA by 2023 and bid in the top 25% by 2026.

So do I want to hold a crap schedule that may not get my days off with the 777? Or do I want to have strong bidding power, hold great vacation, as a Captain? To be honest a quality wide body Captain career doesn't exist here, unless you get hired in your 20's. Even then it will take a long time. Might as well just go to Emirates if you have no soul.

Granted I only spent one summer commuting to New York to fly international, but it sucked. My wife complained that I was constantly tired. Flying mainly domestic now, and it's nice not living in a fog.

IMHO Stick with SWA if it keeps you based near home.

 

Here's DTW 777 FO


DTW 717 CA

 

Funny, but I have flown with guys with less than 2 years on the property. Unless of course the 7ER is not a widebody in your book in which case your post would be correct.

 

For anyone considering joining Delta, no I wouldn't consider it a viable wide body career path. The 757 will be phased out in the next 10 years, replaced by 321 & 737-900. 767 flying will be replace with A330. I'd guess that most senior FO's on the 7ER will switch to the 330 forcing it to be a super senior aircraft. I've flown with too many right seat lifer's. I wouldn't recommend a new hire get on a fleet that's downsizing. They'll be stuck on the bottom as the senior pilots claw onto the plane their most comfortable with. Especially if they're switching from Boeing to Airbus. The senior pilots will have displacement rights if they wait to the bitter end of the fleet.

In the last two years the 7ER fleet was slammed with new hire training. I don't see a cycle like that ever happening again for that fleet.

 

In some bases it is, and in some bases it isn't. Seniority has a lot to do with it too. If you want weekends off and international trips, I can only tell you where not to go.