Thanks. The positive outlook is something I need to be reminded of. I do try to practice gratitude for the job every day, but man, I wouldn’t wish this commute on my enemy. I guess any movement west would be better than as far east as it gets. 🤣

I’m in DEN staring at the cuts in the spring…I wouldn’t wish a forced commute on anyone. Thankfully my sick bank needs to be cut down so any displacement won’t have many commutes for awhile.

Reviving this thread and to give an update. First of all thank you to everyone who has responded here. You all have given me lots of sleepless nights and long conversations with the wife 😆.
I will be starting class at AA this month and pushed my SWA class date to mid February. I still have not made a final decision, it really is a very hard call to make. I am hoping that SWA announces the next base soon. If it does turn out to be AUS that may do it for me as that would put me at roughly a 2:30 drive from all 3 SW Texas bases.
Given SWAs great schedule flexibility that would put me in a great position to potentially grab trips from 3 different bases within easy ish driving distances. I am trying to get a better feel for hiring at SW in 2026 but all Im hearing is roughly 4-500 in Q1 and Q2 with nothing else concrete the rest of the year.

Not directed at you personally…. Could someone who has been at a legacy and SWA elaborate on this? I’ve heard this many times over the years, but it seems like schedule flexibility is great everywhere amongst the legacies/SWA. Most months I fly 3-5 days a month as a line holder because of the flexibility at United, but I don’t think that it is unique in that regard.

Best of luck with wherever you end up. I’m at SWA and was told 2 days ago by an Asst CP that they were told 700 new hires next year but we haven’t been told anything by planning about a new base or hiring post Q1.

We can do whatever we want with the schedule for the most part with FAR’s being limiting factor. Drop to 0 by giving trips away, trade down with other pilots/company. Straight pick up/drop trips/rsv to OT (rsv part is new effective Jan).

There’s no cap on how much we can work if you want to kill it. Work over Vacation, check. Double dip on training pulls, check.

An example of what I’ve been doing for basically a decade…I bid rsv..if they don’t use me great…I’ll pick up something on my days off that goes on TOP of guarantee. If they do use me, the trip is rigged and whatever the trip credits above the rsv block credit…goes on TOP of guarantee. So I’ll fly anywhere from 40-60 hrs a month and credit around 150. On paper I have 10 days off or less but spend around 18-23 nights at home.

For Nov they used me 6 rsv days, 7 days unused. I picked up 3 2 day trips, one of which touched Thanksgiving. Credited 156, flew 53 hrs. Senior guys drop down to 0 and get premium on anything they’re legal for and the few guys I know credit 160-180/mo…but they’re literally never home. I prefer the rsv game…similar pay and way more time off from hotels.

I’m sure every other airline has their methods for working the system if you choose to. SWA runs on pilot greed…

Thanks, that sounds like what you can do most places. Best of luck to the OP. He’ll have a great career wherever he lands.

I guess I missed this thread originally. Full transparency…I’m at AA for 3.5 years now and drive to DFW from probably pretty close to where you live based on your initial description.

AA is where you want to be. Better seniority progression, 4 fleet types, and ability to fly long haul if you so wish. Be aware, though…widebody in DFW is pretty senior…like around 8-9k seniority for the junior pilots. You can hold NB captain in DFW around 12k now. Our retirements are over 3500 in the next 5 years, 6300 in 10 years. We’re hiring 60+ a week for, it seems, about 30 weeks a year right now.

If you have a choice, take the 737 initially. It will get you to DFW the quickest and will afford you the best seniority progression and QOL for the first couple years. Bid over to the bus at that point if you feel the need. Picking up trips in DFW on the 737 or 320 is very easy and plentiful if you want more than your line as awarded. It’s not quite as easy to get OT trips as a reserve, however. With your distance to DFW long call reserve would be best….and you’ll likely credit nearly 85 hours every month.

If you can do them(meaning you can sleep during the day on day 3)…look at the 4 day trailing redeye trips and 5 day trips. 4 day trailing redeye usually sign in around 10-11am on day 1 and release 0530 on day 4. You get paid 4 days(21 hours) and usually fly 18 or so. Get home early day 4, take a couple hour nap, and have half the day with the family plus the next 3 days off(assuming you do 4 of these a month for 84 hours pay). I love these trips and they work great for me. I have a strategy for making the circadian swap on the last day that works perfectly for me and for many others I have suggested it to.

Genuinely curious with new round of contracts, but at AA, can you trade between line holders and reserves? In other words, if you're a reserve guy, can you trade your reserve block of say 3 or 4 days with a line holder? Or say if you're a line holder at AA, can you pick up a 2 or 3 day reserve block either from someone else or from the company especially in light months? Also, what does it take for a reserve at AA to make more money without picking up anything... do you make extra once you're assigned a trip or say if you get reassigned as a reserve while you're on the road, or are you just making your guarantee?

You can volunteer for over guarantee and premium reserve flying (which can be lucrative) but that’s all at company discretion.

Not sure if I left others out but that’s all I can think of at the moment.

All the stuff you mentioned sounds amazing btw.