maybe. Maybe not

I don't read fortune cookies, I read financial statements.

I sincerely hope so. I hope every airline is back to being highly profitable asap. We all benefit from each other (as far as labor contracts go)

But the big boys have some deep holes to dig out of. We should all be extremely grateful that the Gov't came in and saved our asses. If they hadn't probably 30% of us would be on the streets

For me Spirit 100%, for them, see below. There is more to a choice than name alone.

I try to always tell people that their choice for a “lifer” career is way too personal for anyone to give the perfect answer. Ask questions about business models, financials, respected opinions on the state of the airlines etc and then take that with the other factors like qol, contract, seniority advancement to come up with the best answer for you.

There are things about Spirit that are so good for my situation that I would pass up offers from other majors. Does that mean they are the right fit for someone else, hell no.

Lets not make this a “my street is better than your street” argument, it is far to complicated for such a simplistic approach.

Seriously? You are butthurt over THIS posting?


I didn’t thing the idea that United has more international exposure or that Delta prioritized business travelers was really all that controversial. Far less that it would actually offend someone and start them spinning fantasies.

This plus one. But that’s me.

Always go where you feel makes you happiest. You’ll make a **** ton of money if everything works out at UAL / DAL. You’ll make a **** ton of money at (U)LCCs. If the paint on the side of the plane still matters to you then I can’t help you with that. You will grow out of that over time and realize a plane is plane. All that matters; QOL. Paycheck. QOL.

This being said the OP asked UAL vs DAL. Not vs another airline. So in closing my two pennies; it’s a severe gamble. They are both bleeding enormous amounts of money and are not too big to fail (all airlines got loans who wanted them). I have zero doubt to be honest that both will be fine but in what form or shape is hard to predict in this environment.

Both are great companies to work for.

Best of luck and congrats !

Define **** ton. What I do know is I have to work a decent amount of premium to make what my legacy counterparts make on guarantee at the same longevity on the same jet. That’s not including what they can make in profit sharing or on a wide body. Then I can’t even touch it. FedEx guys now that’s making money.

And just like 20 years ago when $100k seemed like a lot it was really just a nice living. That’s about what $250k is now. A nice living. It doesn’t even pay the yearly property taxes on the houses less than two miles away from my dump. And those are second homes even. Those people are making a true **** ton and there are a lot of them. This is peanut compared to the big boys.

Do you understand the difference between a cash loss and equity write off? As in, they didnt really lose 12B out of their bank account. A lot of it was a "paper loss". Delta played accounting games and lumped asset depreciation for years to come into last year, among other things (Early retirement payouts, investing in their pension so they'll be self funded, JV equity writeoffs). If you are going to take a loss, take them all at once approach. This sets up future years for no tax liability, and manages the stock price volatility for future quarters. They wrote off the value of 56 767s and 91 717s to the tune of several billion, but they'll still be flying most of them til 2025. Still today taking most new aircraft in cash. Most of their debt will mature in short term.

They reduced a lot of future cost headwinds.
I foresee them quickly getting cashflow positive, paying down debt to 2019 levels (10B), and making billions a year in profits. May take a few years.

$250k might be just a nice living to you, but to the average individual median income of about $40k*, that's rich! Of course that $250k really depends where in the country you live. In parts of Cali, if you're LAX based, it isn't much. Commute in from somewhere and that $250k might get you a big baller house with a ton of disposable income. I never expected to get rich from flying, I do it because there isn't another career I'd rather do. There's other professions that will get a ton of nice toys and homes, but I don't know if I'd enjoy doing them.




*
State of Working America Wages 2019: A story of slow, uneven, and unequal wage growth over the last 40 years | Economic Policy Institute (epi.org)

All I really care about when it comes to a career is how much money I can make. I don't care about anything else. Sometimes I feel like a loser for choosing to be an airline pilot early on in my life. At least we earn decent wages that we can invest and turn into income producing assets.