LAS or DEN Basing
 

Commuting is going to be in my future no matter what base I fly out of being that I live in SLC and do not plan to move for family reasons. What insight can anyone give on commuting either to Denver or Las Vegas out of SLC. I realize it's going to be painful regardless while on reserve but is one better than the other? There seems to be quite a few flights to either base on a daily basis, but trying to figure which base would offer the best QOL in the long run is where I'd like some insight. Upgrade time and time to holding a line seems to favor LAS.

How long on reserve and how difficult to same day commute with F9 work rules?

Thanks in advance

Denver will offer more in the way of open time for aggressive bidding. Las Vegas seems to be going fairly junior. I'm not sure what the time to hold a line is in either base but given that Vegas is still growing it may be faster there. Keep in mind that with Vegas, if you can't hold day turns you're almost assured to see a minimum of 1 redeye per trip, maybe more. Depending on the SLC commute, trips are commutable at both ends if you can find a flight home after about 10pm LAS local time.

My guess is that as a new FO, you might be better off in Denver and then take the LAS upgrade which will be much faster than denver upgrade. Denver is so much larger, you will have more scheduling flexibility there.

I think it's a very easy commute. Welcome!

Line
 

How long does it take to get any line out of Denver or Las Vegas?

For January the junior relief line holder in LAS was an August hire. DEN junior relief line holder was April hire.

DISCLAIMER: prior performance may not be indicative of future results.

I assume since you asked the question you are not yet on property. Be warned that 2018 is going to be a slow year...contract nowhere close to being done, a net gain of (I think) 5 airplanes, haven’t had an upgrade bid in many months, etc. I would bet the wait gets longer.

Thanks for the reply, that is good insight. Understand that 2018 is going to be somewhat stagnant for growth in net aircraft gain but hopefully that will change in 2019.

For what it's worth, they've been saying "explosive growth is just around the corner" since at least 2015. It keeps getting pushed back. Not saying it won't happen (as I expect it will at some point), but come with eyes wide open.

2019 is not much better. This place isn't planned to grow big time until 2020 and beyond. 2018-2019 are the years of swapping out the old birds for the new birds. However attrition may increase helping you move up a bit.

Nope. 2019 is a big growth year.

Can'tStayAway has got it right. They have been promising explosive growth since 2015. It just hasn't happened yet. It keeps getting pushed back. Will it happen in 2019? Maybe, maybe not.

Yes, there are new deliveries. But an equal number of lease returns have been leaving. Each time that happens, the company pockets approximately $20 million (the difference between what the company buys the aircraft for and what it sells it to a leasing company for). It then leases the new aircraft with rates that have to reflect the higher price.

Franke and Biffle are promising big growth and fast upgrades at the same time they are dragging out a new contract absolutely as long as they can. Somehow the growth just keeps getting pushed back, and the contract never happens.

Come with your eyes wide open.