American or Delta
 

I received job offers from both American and Delta, and I am trying to make the most educated choice I can based on my situation. My family and I would prefer to live in Charlotte, but we would also be willing to live near family in Greenville, SC.

If I choose American, I would be living in domicile in Charlotte (eventually) and have the perks associated with that. With DAL, I'd be about a 2.5 hour drive from ATL. I have heard a lot of recommendations to choose the airline that has a domicile where you want to live, but I wanted to get the answer from people who have been there with either company. I know AA also has more growth potential.
Thank you for the help!

Are you going to make a major life decision based on APC posts? Talk to your wife and family and go with them and your gut.

If your family really wants to live in CLT, that's the best choice.

AA
No further discussion needed.

I have watched these forums and their predecessors for close to 25 years.

“Live in base” is always advice #1

Getting in at the start of a MASSIVE retirement wave at AA isn’t a bad gig either.

I'm going to buck the trend and just say that I think Delta's employee groups as a whole are much happier than American's and that can make a substantial difference in how it feels to go to work. Maybe American will get their act together eventually, but that's just how it feels to me right now.

Greenville QOL will be better than Charlotte IMO. Smaller city, lower COL, good opportunity for rental properties if that's your thing etc.

IOW I'd live there regardless of where you ended up.

Also keep in mind Charlotte is insanely senior and will remain that way for many years.

How old are you? How old are your kids?

Hold out for United. 🤗

32. We have a 1.5-yr-old and are hoping for another.

Live in base.

Lots of extra money to be made picking up OT on your down time when you live in base. Plus the retirements at AA will give you a great schedule in no time.

Definitely live in base. A Delta base.
There is absolutely no comparing these airlines at this time. Delta is far and away the premier US Airline. Read the financials. AA debt is staggering, and we are going into a recession most likely. Ask any AA pilot with seniority about how they bid some great trips, and get rescheduled almost every time.
35 yrs AA and have a nephew here as well. Delta.

Stats
 

Impressive What are your stats?

If you haven't figured out now, parenting sure teaches you quick. Life is about choices. Pick one thing OR another. May work, may fail. You'll never get to try (or know) what you didn't pick.

But with more time left at AA than you have been alive thus far ... You're gonna end up senior and your gonna get senior quick. And seniority is everything and living in base is key.

yeah, you may be on reserve for awhile - that's fine if you can sit reserve and change diapers. Move to Charlotte, put down roots, raise your family there and be around to see your family grow. Coach soccer, go to little gym classes, be at the kindergarten plan even when you're on reserve.

Where are you going to find a 1.5 year old?

(I mean, as long as we are asking useless questions)

It is good its not a third child, as I hear they are Chinese.

Delta guy here. Delta has been great and will be great for you too, but in your situation I think I would choose American. Sure Delta is better ran (for now), has less debt, and is a nice place to work. However, I think your seniority will be a lot better at AA and being able to live in base, if you can, increases QOL exponentially. There's always the chance that AA closes CLT eventually, but you run that risk anywhere. Both airlines will change drastically throughout your career, but seniority is constant and is a huge part of airline life (and being able to live in base while your kids are young will be great).

I’m at Delta and it’s a great place to work. But LIVE IN BASE. That cannot be over stated. Come here if you plan on living in a Delta base, go to American if you plan on living in an American base. I think the doom and gloom about AA debt is overblown. It’s not going anywhere. United, Delta and American are “too big to fail”. This isn’t the age of Braniff and Pan Am.

It's going to take several years to get CLT
There's a good chance he gets 737 LAX.
Seniority definitely going to go quickly up at AA.
But the way this place is run is extremely poor.
Tell us what your profit share was last year.

Grass is always greener I guess :D I don't think it's wise to make future decisions based on yesterday's profit sharing though. The inability to be CLT based for several years does change things a bit though.

Why is everyone thinking that a 2.5 hour drive for this guy is not “living in base”?

Sort of.

Depends on if it includes traffic. Not sure what DAL's reserve rules are, but that might be too far to sit reserve at a home... that's a big deal, especially at upgrade time. Many folks bypass upgrade until they can hold a line to avoid reserve, to the tune of hundreds of thousands $.

The GSP-ATL drive can be tricky as one accident pretty much closes I-85, and in several areas there’s no viable bypass. Most of the people I know who do that commute fly it.

Both the GSP and CLT commutes are pretty good as commutes go, with very early flights into ATL, and a very late flight back home. 25-35 minutes wheels up to wheels down. With the GSP-ATL commute you’ve got about 10 flights per weekday on SWA and DAL. CLT-ATL is around 20 per weekday between AAL and DAL.

As mentioned, CLT is very senior with only 2 AC types to choose from. ATL is comparatively somewhat less senior with several more AC choices, destinations.

One way to ease the pain as a GSP/CLT commuter is to bid the 717. You can overnight at home once or twice per trip with relatively little seniority (I think CLT overnights 4-6 717’s per night).

As everyone else said, living in base probably trumps most other considerations. AA also has the movement and retirement numbers.

One last point of observation: When I’m on the lake or at dinner with DAL and AA buds, it’s generally the AA guys who do the majority of the work-related complaining. ;)

Based on the current bid status snapshot and retirement projections... It will take about 2 to 2.5 years to hold CLT/320 and you can be 50% in your bid status by the end of year 5. Of course that's just looking at today's snapshot and things can always change.

OP,

Just take these answers through a filter. Most AA folks on here are going to be somewhat negative. And yes, as it sits currently, it’s not as good of a company as Delta, profit sharing is far less, and upgrade times are longer. With that said, it is a good job, and we have great pilots to work with. You won’t spend a 4 day trip wallowing in negativity like APZc might lead you to believe.

CLT will take about 2 years to hold, but that could go down (that’s a drop in the bucket). In the meantime, you won’t be stuck in LAX. If you get that as your first assignment, you’ll be able to switch to LGA (likely before IOE is completed).

Seniority wise, looks like you’d be 50% up the total list in about 9 years, conservatively able to hold wide body CA for your last 15 years. Of course, that could all change with another merger, or won’t matter if they go out of business, but thought I’d show you (based on a 32 year old hired in late July).

I think GSO ATL would not be a bad commute though either, and are you pretty committed to living in that area? I know we’ve changed our minds on where to live several times. It’s easy to move with young kids. Not so much once they hit middle school.

There is no denying the retirement numbers at AA. I simply feel Doug Parker is running this place into the earth. That, compounded by a recession, could spell some serious pain.
Being so close to ATL says I would pick Delta, as they seriously have their act together operationally and financially. And for the most part, have historically had a board that insists on good leadership . AA- not so much. Many, many ineffective leaders.

Would one of you Delta guys PLEASE give us your profit share numbers so he can see how good that is? And an estimate of what a 777 pilot is pulling in profit sharing.
Thank you!

It sure isnt sitting short call at home. By that definition an AA guy based out of MIA but lives in Orlando would be considered "living in base" since its roughly a 2.5 -3 hr drive distance between the two. Its not the same thing.

We had a military guy in my NH class who left Delta after 13 months to come to AA. he lives in RDU and decided that the drive to clt eventually was worth giving up his seniority and ATL commute. It’s also better to go to the “worst” place before it gets better instead of the best that has been for last few years. Personally, I didnt even apply to Delta because I refuse to commute for this job. Best of luck to you wherever you decide! You’re wayyy ahead of the game and damn you!! haha.

Im only posting this because you asked....I’m top rate A320 Captain. I worked one 2 day premium trip and the rest of the time probably averaged 75-78 hours a month. PS gross was $36,066. Net was $22,700.

I’m sure that’s not enough to offset a leisure drive to work, versus commuting by air. I’d give almost anything to not have to commute.

You could consider a move or is that beyond almost Anything?

The big three are to big to fail, the only real threat is carbon taxes. Airlines live by the cash flow, not debt levels, these days all of them are recession proof.

I was a 1st/2nd year narrowbody FO last year. Our 14% profit sharing was about a $19k pay out for me. Not surprised if WB captains got in the $60-70k range.

That being said... If you just bid a schedule, fly it and go home. Any of the big 3 will be fairly comparable in QOL/pay. Unless you wanted to live a couple hour drive from ATL, AA would make sense for the CLT base.

Some factors to consider being the size of aircraft in a base. Although this is fluid and changes over time. Being in a base that offers a top paying category will be more lucrative over time than a base that doesn't.

If you worked for a AA WO carrier, you know how AA works.

Personally, after working for AAG and now DAL, go to DAL.

I wasn’t complaining, SF. I was just adding to the conversation that if given a choice, driving to work for AA would be better than an airplane commute to Delta. Over 32-33 years, driving to work from where someone wants to live is priceless. I’ve got about 10 years left before my kids are in college, then my wife and I are moving, but it still won’t be to a DL base...we are moving to South FL.

I live in a UAL/AA base. When I got hired I was originally based in CVG but as soon as I got off probation, I was going to move to the ATL. I was going to buy a condo in Buckhead ( I was single at the time) and I was going to bid the highest paying aircraft I could hold. I was fully committed. I’d probably be your neighbor right now in Peachtree City, if not for September 11th. I was a month away from getting off probation. By the time I got recalled, I had met my wife and both of our families were in the Chicago area. Now, we are happy here, raising our kids near their grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. Life changes. Family is the one constant in our lives. (If you’re lucky enough)

Delta.

Even if you lived in an American base Delta would still be better. That’s how bad ‘America West dba American Airlines’ is.

Because that’s almost 6 hours of driving a week if you only have one trip.

Well dang! You better not tell that to the guys living in Eastern PA and consider that to be living "in base" for LGA/JFK. Or any "normal" person who has 35 minute commute each way each day. :rolleyes:

Bravo chap!!! Almost coughed up my fajita reading that

Yep or people living anywhere in Socal driving 3hrs to LAX in traffic.