Not to mention half the seniority list retires in 10 years

How many hours of OE minimum if you are upgrading on the 737?

how does this even matter?

I'd be thankful if anyone could share some advice on what they think is best for me.

I live in central NJ, about 40 mins from EWR. UA seems the obvious choice due to the easy EWR drive but it seems like DAL may have better work rules. I have a young child at home and currently at corp where I get 15-18 days off a month. When I flew for the regionals I was good at "gaming" the system to maximize pay and QoL. I make around $270,000 (pay + retirement) now and getting back to that is important, but so is seeing my kid.

How far is your drive to JFK?

1+15 no traffic. Double that in rush hour.

Both are junior base at their respective airline so you will move up quickly. I don't know Delta's reserve callout time but if you can make it to the gate in about 2 hours or so you should be fine on reserve at DAL. With the current movement you might not be on reserve for long.

Round numbers for your scenario as a 2nd year reserve captain (easily attainable FOR NOW since so few want to be CA in EWR):

$260 x 73 min guarantee = $19K per month. You’ll be on reserve forever, but if you are just thinking about applying now the new contract will likely be here by the time you get here. Being on reserve for a period of years will be the main driver of your QOL rather than incremental contract differences that Delta may or may not have over United. Going forward I believe the main difference will be the huge disparity in number of widebody aircraft between the two.

Been here 5 years and just upgraded on the 75/76. Live in Bucks county so add 15 minutes to your drives. Life is good. The Kennedy drive really isn’t that bad. I would try to get on the ER as you get to avoid LaGuardia and the flying is way way better. I bid reserve and prefer week days off so it works for me. PM me if you have any specific questions.

If you are lucky enough to be awarded a widebody as a newhire at Delta you will not be senior enough to hold reserve. That’s how great our reserve rules are

if you want to see your kid bid 220 and you will work four days a month. Plus you will never have to sit FSB/ready reserve

all reserve is long call convertible to 6 days of short call a bid period. I average less than two a month. If you do get short call you need to be within three-ish hours of report, to any of the three nyc airports. You will be able to sit reserve at home