I’m LAX 717. Been on property a little over a year and I’m projected to bid around 50% by July. I’ve benefited from big growth in the 7ER categories out west, enticing a lot of FOs to leave the 717. No desire to leave the category with lots of layovers at home and rarely flying east of Denver.

Really it comes down to what’s more important to you. Schedule? Money? Destinations?

If you’re a commuter or have kids at home and your primary goal is schedule control, I’d seriously consider 717 for the seniority. If you want to see the world, bid 7ER. The 737 has better movement than the 7ER and still usually only does one or two flights a day, but you won’t see Europe or Asia.

This is good stuff, I'm one of the guys leaving for the ER as I'm looking to limit the amount of times I need to commute per month and some new flying. To each their own sure, nice to have so many options.

I am LAX based. It’s only a 2 year seat lock so you can always switch to another aircraft later. Pretty much all the A’s that I have flown with are cool dudes or dudettes. Usually it is their first CA gig or they are camping out at the top of the seniority list and coasting into retirement.

With the 717 being the lowest paying fleet there will be very few senior pilots that will bid down. Once you get x dollars per hour it’s hard to work for less even if the QOL is better. Plus many senior to you bid off the airplane because they want to go to the ER and make more money. I think on the big AE from last year about half of the B’s bid off the airplane which made for some very fast movement in a short amount of time.

DL's long term plans for LAX
 

Thank you Ray!

Could someone (preferably someone who's "in the know" and keeps up with these kinds of things) discuss what they know about long term LAX fleet plans? I.E. Aircraft available in LAX + what will most likely be available down the line, progression/QOL of each fleet in LAX etc... Also, I'm assuming that LAX will never be airbus?

Just trying to get a birds eye view and bid as intelligently as possible with some sort of long term plan in mind. My main goal in life is a high QOL (days off per month + ability to control what types of trips)

According to John Bell’s analysis, the following base/equipment had the most “movement” out of a base/equipment that would impact a new hire:

1.ATL M88 -69
2.NYC 73N -37
3.ATL/NYC 717 -22 (each)
4.LAX 73N -12

The minus number is the number of pilots senior to the plug that left the category. In other words, 69 pilots left the MD-88 in Atlanta. This shows the maddog is still the quickest progression for now.

I assume that will change very soon when the 88 starts to retire. Pilots will move backwards on seniority while this occurs and senior pilots will be given the opportunity to leave it sooner. Be warned.

Good info, thanks. Is the official retirement of the 88/90 still 2020? Or will that change now with the C series ruling?

I don't know, but keep in mind that both new AC types and old AC retirements are both almost always later than planned.

Anybody have the hiring numbers for last year and the comparisons with the other majors? Just from perusing the other airlines boards it seems that DAL is hiring significantly more pilots this year. Or am I misinterpreting that?

Man, that changes every hour it seems. I’m pretty sure they write the 88 plan in pencil. The original plan had the 88’s retiring at an accelerated pace startin Jan 2018. Then the C series looked bleak so they said they were keeping them longer. Now the C series shocker ruling, so I doubt even Network knows what to do.

If I were a betting man, I would put my money on the 88’s staying until 2020 before retiring. I would need 10 to one odds on that bet though. 😜

I wonder how much this years hiring will be affected by Delta getting the CSeries later this year.........

Denny