UA verse AA
 

Retiring in March with CJO from both. Live between IAD and DCA so domicile not a factor. Might move back to Chicago so once again, domicile not a big factor. American has all the retirements but heard United has the better work rules and they work less days per month.

An old SQDN mate flies for UA and he works 13-14 days a month as a lineholder about 3 years of seniority, minimal weekends. I saw his schedule and it looked pretty good. Is American about the same? Are the travel benefits for the family about the same? American has the bigger network for sure but if you can't use it then what is the point?

Blessed to have this "problem"

United- greater ease of wide body International flying out of IAD with them vs having to commute to PHL or CLT for it.

Here is the mandatory retirements on AA, courtesy of Sliceback. He does a great job of quick, accurate, clear analysis for AA. (G4 CA is Group 4 pay rates, the wide body Captain slots.). Have not seen (or maybe have forgotten) a similar analysis for UA.

Down the road, need to consider wide body flying out of which airports; when you get to that point, would you have to commute? How much of a QOL impact is that if you are flying across either pond one round trip a week or so?

Remember who is in the lead for QOL today is only good to the next contract. Over a career, it will be a horse race. The lead will change several times. Pilots will have a stronger hand than in the past when it comes time to open the contracts. Welcome for others to weigh in on current specifics.

Sliceback:
Just added up retirements for 10, 15, and 20 yrs. All data - nearest 100.

10 yrs - 8,200
15 yrs - 11, 100
20 yrs - 12,800

Latest seniority list shows 14,500 on property. So estimated seniority number for someone hired today -

10 yrs - 6,300
15 yrs - 3,400
20 yrs - 1,700

Roughly 18 yrs to junior G4 CA.

Here is the analysis for United. You’d be looking at about the same time frame to the highest paying seat (764/777/787 CA). You could fly any of those aircraft (with the exception of the 764, it seems to come and go) out of Dulles and avoid the commute. The right seat on those aircraft has gone more junior in the past, but it’s constantly changing. As of now you could hold the 777 or 787 right seat in IAD at around 3 years seniority. It all depends on where you want to end up living long term.

Retirements:

10 years - 5500

15 years - 9000

20 years - 10600 out of 12700 on property

UA. Better w/b flying options where you want to live.
Your UA seniority is slightly lower but UA has more w/b’s so the effectively value of the seniority amongst w/b pilots at the two airlines is similar.

Some other points to consider. I am in a similair boat, UAL/AA, and United hasnt hired hardly anyone since 2 May. 2 small classes scheduled in Dec. Nothing listed for 2018 yet. AA is going to hire 925 new hires next year. You will have better idea come March but I am personally a little weary of anything United says right now. Other random stuff-

1. STD at AA, none at United
2. more vacation days at AA
3. if you ever commute, the commute rules seem a thousand times better at AA
4. Lots of East coast bases at AA. You might get stuck commuting to SFO or LAX for a year with United
5. The big plus for United as a retiring military officer is the ability to drop trips and take mini unpaid leave of absences. I dont think you can do that at American.
6. It is my understanding AA has no airport standby while United has lots of it.

UAL is a great company to work for, very pilot friendly flight ops management, treat employees very well. We are already in early openers for our next contract. I believe our work rules and profit sharing are generally a bit better then American, pay is similar at all 3 majors. We have very large retirements from 2018 on so we will be hiring in large numbers in the future. Lots of great guys to fly with here. You could get SFO as a new hire, but doubt you would be there long. EWR goes jr and has a great variety of flying on the 737. ORD is also a jr base and IAD is smaller but relatively jr for a new hire. Denver and IAH are pretty stagnant at the moment. Best of luck!!

At AA you should be able to get PHl on the 190 or LGA on the 737 or A320. DCA is pretty junior and you should be able to transfer there within the first year. ORD is a bit more senior and would probably take a few years to get. Personally I'd go with United if you plan to stay in DC and really want to fly widebodies. If you don't really care, or think you'll end up in Chicago I'd go with whoever gives you the earliest class date and don't look back.

I am retiring in March, terminal leave in February. Pentagon staffer. Out of the cockpit the last 2 years. Originally thought I would have to go the regional route but I obviously didn't need to.

All good advice. I will reevaluate in January. I really wouldn't want to travel out to the West coast to work. Why is commuting on United worse than commuting on American? I don't understand the airport standby comment either. Is that "ready reserve" sitting around? Why wouldn't American have the same thing?

Back to one of the initial questions. Are travel benefits basically the same? I have a daughter attending school in Texas and a son attending school in New York.

V/R

Travel benefits, as far as I know, tend to be similar. As far as I know no one turns down A and goes to be B because of the difference in travel benefits.

Traveling to see your kids? As a pilot you get to ride the Jumpseat of your airline on all flights. Some restrictions to ride the Jumpseat of other airlines. In general it’s always easier to non rev on your own metal.