No ready reserve.
Rarely 4 leg days.
Better pay and benefits.
No 20 minute flights.
Better quality of life on reserve.
Better quality of life holding a line.
Overall better work rules.


Just to name a few

 

I flew an empty 320 COS-DEN once. That was actually kinda fun.

 

Well that is a bit of hyperbole, but F9 is night and day better than my regional was, and I was actually pretty happy there before I left.

Schedules are MUCH more efficient here. The 5 hour avg min day already guarantees more days off for you, but then a lot of trips average 6+ or 7+ hours per day. Furthermore, that high credit day won't have a 3 hour sit like at your regional since F9 isn't depending on mainline to tell them what routes they can fly. F9 keeps the planes in the air (high utilization, quick turns) to maximize $ which also helps your schedule efficiency. As a result, we do have some operational headaches and often cascading delays, but you go to your zen state of mind and complete your legs as best you can and go home.

15% direct contribution to the retirement account is pretty nice (not a match!).

I dont have to upgrade to NYC and deal with that headache for years hoping to flow.
Crews here are awesome, seriously this makes my life easier bc let's be honest, some of the regional lifer captains are great but some of them you can kinda tell why they are (still) where they are.

Now, we do have a lot of ways to improve, and if you let the operational challenges affect your attitude then it could really add up. But at least for me, coming here was an easy decision vs a regional and I haven't regretted it for a second, even though those pilots are currently making more money than I am.

 

It’s currently 5 hours min duty period. That needs to be changed on the next contract. Redeye eastbound, 24 hour overnight, fly back westbound for 10 hours of pay. At my regional that would’ve been 12.5 hours of pay just on min day.

Otherwise even though I’m making the same on year 1 as year 1 FO’s at regionals, my QOL can be great even being a commuter. The opportunity to make more with premium is great if you can snag some like we’ve been seeing today and yesterday.

I personally know of at least one person who turned down an interview here to stay at his regional once they raised pay at the regionals up, which is very short sighted in my opinion. I’m seeing a $1200/month contribution straight to my 401k on year 1 and obviously that will make a huge difference 30 years from now.

 

I could fill volumes with reasons I couldn’t wait to get out of regionals. This was certainly a big one for me. It was just getting worse and worse. You either got 40 min turns on 5 leg days (ie no way to recover delays, especially with a 10hr layover on both ends) or 2 legs with a 3+hr sit in a hub. Likely that whole day, even with duty rig 2:1, paid less than MDG (which was 4:12 for us). Long sits plus increasing min rest (“trips are getting more efficient, everyone!”), either/or they both suck. I’ve combed through pairings here and it seems like the longest I’m seeing are about 1:30.

If I could change 1 thing (aside from payscale of course), it would be MDG instead of min duty period. Just picking at random, L3399 Las Vegas. Reports 2259 Monday, all night to Buffalo land at 7:19 Tuesday. 25hr layover. Day 3, fly home 9:29 to 11:24. All for 10:29 credit. I’m assuming that’s the 3.5 duty rig kicking in, so it pay a little more than just 10hr. Bleh. Nothing like starting work one day at 11pm body clock, just to flip it around to 5am body clock. Min daily wouldn’t make that feel any better, but at least the credit would be higher so maybe you don’t get stuck with as much of that flying.

 

If I'm not mistaken, I think the new Delta contract comes w/ a 5:20 min duty day - with the day being a calendar day so your example would pay 16 hours. That sounds about right.

 

But think of the commutability!

Ya I just with they would turn those into true three days. Of course some have and they are brutal. LAS-PHL redeye, PHL-DEN-PHL redeye turn, PHL-LAS. 19 credit but you’re dead.

I’m sure if we went to MDG they would just rework the trips to more of the example above. I’m not so sure it would be as helpful as we assume. That or push the redeye to start at 12:01 instead of 11:37 or whatever.

 

What makes commuting decent at F9. I would be a commuter as well, I am interviewing in a few weeks. Hope to get the CJO and hold ATL. We have 7-9 non stops operated by Delta. Any commuter benefits?

 

Commuting sucks, and it's worse offline. Commuter clause is two flights arrive at least one hour before report time.

 

oh yeah, releasing at 00:05 is so commutable 😍