In last indoc class...All DEC's were sent to ORD and all FO's were given base of their choosing.

You will upgrade as soon as you have the hours unless there is a major downturn in the industry in the next couple years. I do think pilot hiring is slowing and attrition will likely slow a bit but the big things that affect the industry are usually unexpected like Covid.

I think it's a crapshoot whether you will get those hours faster in MIA or DFW. I have heard that MIA is seemingly understaffed and they frequently send DFW FOs to MIA to help cover the flying, therefore their reserve FOs must be flying frequently. On the other hand, the staffing projections say Miami is expected to lose 10 lines of flying over the next 5 months and DFW is supposed to gain another 13 lines of flying or so. From that perspective, you are likely to hold a line faster in DFW. I think MIA is more senior on the captain side, it would take a lot longer to hold a captain line in MIA than DFW if that matters to you.

I think you should bid the base you will be happy to live in for awhile.

Reserve and bases for DEC
 

Thanks for the info on the latest base drops for DEC. I'm wondering if PHX is realistic for a new hire DEC and, if so, how soon. Also wondering how soon one could expect a line there. Months? Years? I know this is a crystal ball question, but I'd appreciate someone's insider perspective.

The last vacancy award was the first week of January and in it the bottom 7 DECs were displaced to Phoenix captain while still in training. You will definitely be able to hold Phoenix before you are out of training.

A Phoenix DEC I know who has been at Envoy 14 months is holding a line in Phoenix because people senior to him have been bidding reserve.. When that will happen to you depends on attrition, how fast the base grows, and how many DECs come in below you. Phoenix is growing slowly, ALPA says to expect more flying out of Phoenix as flying through Austin winds down. We hope to take more Phoenix flying from SkyWest but that is up to American. Crew Planning projected 13 more lines of flying in Phoenix in June than in January.

You will be on reserve at least a year in PHX. The CA side flies more than the FO side so if you are commuting to reserve you can reasonably expect to be used half of the time or so. However, if you are sitting standby in PHX the likelihood you will be used is extremely slim, since we only have 13 flights a day and there’s about 7 flights per standby shift. DFW you can expect to be used almost every day on reserve or on standby. We were projected to be at 30 lines for February but there was only 24 in our bid packet. The pattern I’ve seen is that crew planning overestimates the number of lines for PHX every month so while yes this base is growing, it is at a very incremental place. The company as a whole is overstaffed to the point where they offer zero time and part time lines (half of the month is unpaid leave) every month. It will get better, however, as our fleet is supposed to grow 15% by the end of the year which is not an insignificant number.

Thanks Ravenwing and V2
 

Much appreciated intel. I like the methodical approach.

new fo... starting orientation march 7 in dallas. living in vegas currently. was hoping to find out any info on available bases. ideally trying to fly out of phoenix.

My orientation was 12/14; all FOs have recently been getting their base of choice. Upgrade as soon as you get 1,000 hours 121 and Phoenix is Junior for Captains too. They recently put out a TDY for PHX Captain. Congrats and hope this helps, I from Las Vegas too but live in DFW.