Southerner

1. Do you live in JFK or BOS?
2. If yes, do you mind being on reserve for a long time?
3. How do you feel about red-eye flying?

If you're cool with reserve for a long time, and don't mind flying in the back side of the clock, the Airbus might be for you.

E190 guys make more money early-on because they are off reserve sooner, and can pick up trips, etc. The E190 isn't going away for a long time, and the seat lock is only a year for new hires.

Food for thought.

Rumpel

I live between MCO and FLL. I've heard I can possibly hold MCO 190 in 6 months and FLL 320 in a year The question in my mind is, would going straight for the 320 be worth the extra time spent as a commuter? Or would it be a better strategy to go to the 190 for a quicker Florida base and think about transitioning to the 320 later?

I'll be honest, Im not an airline guy and I don't understand 100% how the seniority system works. Seniority wise when I transition between aircraft or change bases, am I "starting over" in any way? Or is everything based on my initial hire date?

hilltopflyer

Your number is your number forever. The number 1 fo would swap into the top 100 captain position. Hence why a lot of guys bid the 190 and bid over once they get better seniority. I’d do the 190 to try and get mco cause fll cones and goes.

BeatNavy

Everything is based on initial hire date as far as base and seat awards. Bidding within your base and seat for a monthly schedule is based on your hire date vs other people’s hire date within your base and seat. I’d be surprised as hell if you got MCO in 6 months. Doubt you’ll be in FLL before a year after the last bid that loaded it up (effective date is 1 June). Even with that, it will still be over a year from their hire date to the effective date of the award before those people will get to FLL. If I were in your shoes I’d go 190 for a year then go to the bus when you can hold FLL. Or just hold out on the 190 for MCO. Also, the 190 doesn’t poison you like the bus...so there’s that. Commuting to a line on the 190 is way better than commuting to reserve on the airbus. And the transition is fairly easy. I hate training events and being in the schoolhouse, but the 190 to bus transition was a lot easier than the already easy newhire training since knowing the jetblueisms is already done. And if you live close to MCO you aren’t far from home, which was my biggest complaint about being locked in MCO for a month with only a couple days off at a time to go home a few times in that month.

capt707

If I were you, I would bid 190.

Southerner

I agree with the guys above. The 190 will be the fastest line to commute to, and the fastest transition to MCO. I'll be shocked if you get 190 MCO in 6 months, and I the A320 MCO is closer to 2-3 years.

As far as seniority goes, your overall seniority doesn't matter all that much (for day to day life). It just determines what you can hold fleet and base-wise. In other words, the guy one number senior to you in another base or on a different fleet doesn't affect you at all until you bid for a new base or fleet.
Your seniority in-base is what determines your schedule month after month. A middle of the pack E190 CA in BOS is fairly junior in MCO, for instance. If you don't mind commuting, you can go to a base that you're more senior in.

In your case, you'll be able to hold a line on the E190 in JFK or maybe BOS before you can hold E190 MCO at all. And when you do get based in MCO, you'll probably be a very junior person for a while. Does that make sense?

Rumpel

Thanks for taking the time to explain that to me, that helps me out a lot.

Rumpel

Thanks for the reply, everyone in here has been very helpful and I appreciate it. What do you mean when you say the bus poisons you?

BeatNavy

The IAE-engined airbuses have a much higher than normal (compared to other engines) oil pressure, and (probably as a result of that and the way JB takes care of associated maintenance issues) JB has had a ton of “dirty sock smell” fume events (now “magic marker” smell due to the new turbine oil used) that has several pilots out, some permanently, because tricresyl phosphates, which are released when turbine oil is atomized in the bleed system (which is this dirty sock smell), are a neurotoxin. It’s killed and disabled people. Many people don’t know about it, even some JB pilots. And many buy management’s stance that it doesn’t exist and is a pilot work action.

It’s hard, if not impossible, to directly/conclusively link many health issues with it, because no one is paying for any research for it, probably due to the high liability that will ensue when it is directly linked to death/serious ailments. Airbus, the IAE consortium, oil manufacturers, jetblue, and other associated parties certainly don’t want to look into it. And an effing B6ALPA rep (when confronted because ALPO isn’t doing anything about it except bullying pilots saying they are making it up—looking at you Dario) said “I’d rather have a job and leave this alone than pursue it if it means the company goes down—then we will all be on the street.” Even the FAA doesn’t seem to want to touch it. But jetblue seems to have a much higher number of fume events than other IAE-engined A320/321 airlines, presumably due to maintenance practices. Maintenance has been told by management that these are mostly pilot/flight attendant work actions, so maintenance is mostly dismissive of them. JB installed HEPA filters and changed the engine oil as their fix. And they want pilots to wait 3 minutes to see if the smell goes away before taking action, which is enough time for sensory adaptation https://www.howitworksdaily.com/ques...et-used-to-it/ and to make pilots dismissive of the smell. My understanding is there are objective detectors that can detect when this stuff is in the air, similar to CO detectors, but not shockingly JB won’t install those.

Lots of info on the JB pilot internal forum in a thread that exists to educate people on what tails seem to be the offenders, among other things. Some info here Wet Sock Smell. Some info on google (search “aerotoxic syndrome”).

I was hit with magic marker smell twice on 2 of 4 legs in a day in the same plane (a320). Had dirty sock smell numerous times at my regional in a CRJ, but was told it’s just dirty pack filters. But it affected me. It’s real. The last time with magic marker smell the captain was messing up his radio calls. I felt off. Not hypoxic, not out of it, just different and slower thinking. That particular captain reads the thread about it and he had it before but said that wasn’t the smell (he had only ever had the dirty socks smell). He refused to write it up. Fortunately a week later it was written up a couple times.

As soon as the A220 is on property I’m gone off of this plane...I hope it’s better. And I hope the Pratt-engined NEOs are better. And I pray if we ever get widebodies they are 787s, because I don’t trust any planes with bleed-based ECS systems to be completely safe from aerotoxic chemicals anymore. I love the airbus, it’s nice, comfortable, the trips are nice (minus redeyes), but I’d rather not play fume roulette for 30 years. I’d worry less about it if I flew for an airline that didn’t have such a high number of events, fwiw.

hilltopflyer

You still have the option to write up the plane or refuse it? Not just the captains authority if you fly it. That being said that captain is a ***** for not listening to concerns of his fo. I guess it is true we don’t teach crm anymore. How does a fune event come into the Swiss cheese model? Haha