FlyGuy2021

There is a time and a place for non-rev travel. Trying to non-rev to Miami during Spring Break or Munich during Oktoberfest are examples of things that people try to do and then get stuck.

But going to Europe to see museums in January or February, no problem at all. National Parks in the US in October, flights are wide open. The Caribbean during the brief gap between when Spring Break ends and summer vacation begins, no problem at all. These are all great trips when you are retired, even with the kids and grandkids.

Besides, travel benefits also work (at many airlines) to give you a nice discount off of regular ticket prices. So when you do want to go to Hawaii in April, just buy the tickets with a discount.

ZeroTT

Retirees probably have the best chance to use bennies. Fly on Tuesday!

and you never make plans. You get yourself to a hub and go where the seats are.

Armyguy

Received the assessment Monday morning and took it within 30 minutes. Just received email for interview just now. Really quick.

I found a delta seniority calculator online and what I found interesting was how small the dtw bid statuses are.
roughly 475 nb fo’s spread out among 3 planes.

717 and 320 are key to getting to DTW quick. 717 has only 142 FO’s.
How does delta run their reserve manning numbers vs lineholders? Is trip trading/dropping/moving trips around a thing at Delta?. For perspective a lot of guys here at AA say you cant trip trade but I am always able to move my schedule around as a lineholder and make it exactly what I want. If on reserve at AA there is no flexibility.

I did talk real quick to a Delta pilot and given you all don't have exclusive short call pilots it is easy to volunteer for short call and move yourself lower on the reserve availability list. Idk.

Looks like getting to dtw would be super quick. 12500 total pilots, 717 plug at @12300.

Thanks for any perspective.

Gone Flying

congrats army guy. DTW took a BIG hit during Covid but it is decently sized. It is still our 3rd largest base after ATL and NYC.

have not been here long enough to know the ins and outs but reserves can vary widely by category. (Some have just a handful of reserves and others are 30+%) I would assume typically they want 10-15% but I could be wrong.

We do have the ability to move reserve days but there has to be coverage on the day you want to swap out of.

everyone starts as long call and you get converted to SC as needed, yes you can volunteer for SCs and it gives you “points” to increase your position on the reserve availability list.

DTW should happen for you on the first or maybe second AE (delta speak for vacancy bid) after you get hired. Only downside is they have 7 months (sometimes a full year) after they run the AE to actually convert you to your new base.

Depending on your seniority in class you should be able to get either the 717 or 320. Incase you did not know seniority in class is determined my last 4 of your social; highest being most senior.

Armyguy

very aware! 91xx

Gone Flying

that will work well for ya! Best of luck dude! Hopefully someone with a bit more experience can answer the questions I couldn’t.

dera

For someone with only a few years left, the DOH is the difference. For a 30 year guy, Delta would be better.

nene

Only thing I would add is the flying/reserves fluctuate throughout the year. I have seen months where less than 2% of the category had reserve (almost everyone assigned a line) and then slower months where almost 25-40% were assigned reserve for the same category. Also the reserve guarantee fluctuates as a function of the Average Line Value ALV of the category for a given month (min of 72hrs) so in months with a high ALV many senior pilots will choose reserve on purpose leaving nothing but lines of flying for junior pilots (much more common on the WB fleets) as the reserve pilots are betting they will fly much less than the guarantee, if at all.

Volunteering for Short call will usually get accepted unless you are up against a mandatory rest period which would limit your availability. Not many do that though as an unused SC gets you one hour of pay towards your guarantee so unless you plan on flying more than guarantee, you just volunteered for free.

Best of luck on your decision!

Armyguy

Thanks for all the advice but after driving to the DTW area this weekend for a family event I realized I was being an idiot for even thinking of giving up 4 years seniority at AA. Discussed moving closer to DTW with my wife but that wont happen for at least 4 more years and probably not even them so it just made no sense to take the huge pay hit for 2 years with my limited time horizon. Best of luck to everyone at Delta. Wish they would have called 3-6 years ago but thats water under the bridge at this point.

El Peso

I have to ask, again, what is your commute like now for AA? You’re choosing between driving 3 hours to DTW and…?