Continental junior pilot bases?
 

Once CAL newhires start entering the system, where will they likely end up?

EWR is likely the most junior base, but how far behind that is Cleveland or Guam?

How senior do you have to be to be able to hold the B-737 in Houston??

Many thanks,

Renzo

FO Vacancies at CAL in the following bases as of today:

IAH 737 - 186
EWR 737 - 213
EWR 756 - 140
EWR 777 - 2
GUM 737 - 21
CLE 737 - 7

Total Vacancies = 569
Effective date of the bid is August 2006, so the hiring will be spread out over that time, but mgmt has said about 40-50 a month indefinitely.

Hope that helps.

Btw, the CAL pay rates on this site can now be reduced by 8.9%. Those posted are wrong, as well as most of the other info on the CAL page.

OK, so newhires are going directly to all those seats and bases?

Good to see such movement at CAL!

Yes, a few new hires will go directly into the right seat of the B-777, B-767, and B-757 in Newark. A far cry from what it used to be like when someone had to sit on the panel for 2 years before you could play FO on a 737.

Although these vacancies are available for new hires right now, the seniority within these positions vary drastically. A new hire on the 737-EWR will almost be getting hired into a line holding position. He will probably spend a month or two on reserve, then get conversion lines, then regular hard lines... assuming the expansion continues as planned. However, the new hires into the B777-EWR will be on reserve for years. Not a huge thing if you live withing a couple hours of EWR, but commuting to reserve is not recommended for sanity.

So the choices come down to this...

1) B737; great relative seniority (quality of life), short haul mostly domestic trips, multiple leg days, line holder quickly.

2) B756; about 13% better pay than B737, some domestic mostly international flying, a lot of backside clock flying, reserve for a year or so (a guess, maybe less) before line holder, fewer legs per day.

3) B777; about 15% better pay that B756 28% better than B737, mostly long haul (16 hr legs!) international flying, reserve forever.

Yeah, but at great expense. The limpdicks that voted for our concessionary contract succumbed to the threats and bullying of mangement. The 8.9% paycut mentioned on this board is only a very small tip of the gutting of our contract. No snapbacks, A fund frozen, worthless upside options, and safety compromises with financial justifications. The expansion at CAL probably would have happened without pilot concessions. Unfortunately, we will never know if there was a better deal on the table or not since it passed the first time.

I'm glad for the expansion, and I am glad for a job. I think CAL is one of the better positioned legacy carriers out there. I think we have a potentially bright future and I don't think I would rather be anywhere else right now. I just disagree with so many aspects of this concessionary contract that I get riled up just thinking about it.

For the new hires.... if you can put up with the mentality of the CAL pilot group, (we've got a strikebreaker as MEC Chairman), and accept how that may affect your career, then you might have a decent career here. As long as you know what you're getting into first.

Hi 737EWR,

Just wondering if you know anything Guam? Like how far will the 1100/month living allowance go?

thanks

CAL updates
 

We moved to a new server last week and the backup file was the "old" rate. Check the rates now (they're from the TA). Also if there other items on the CAL page that are not correct, please use this form to make corrections if you wish: http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/content/view/124/53/

Thanks for the heads-up

- Paul

Networking
 

It's good to see somebody hiring - although that good news always seems to be followed by bad- concessionary contract, more "you don't want to work here" stories, etc................. Sounds familiar to me- Wife delivers second healthy baby girl, I get displaced by flowback to right seat after 4 1/2 yrs in left seat. Needless to say, my job search has kicked into overdrive. All applications are now out there, but my "flown with" recommendation/referral list is limited to American & United, not currently hiring. Haven't crossed paths with a Continental pilot in years, and my question is - Does the Continental Airlines employee referral system have the "flown with" requirement?
Thanks

ps Thinking of changing login to "Unhappily displaced"

What is a "flow with" requirement?

Flown with
 

I'm just referring to people whose names they could find in my logbooks that I've flown with, either as captain, f/o, sim partner, or student. I thought I was getting somewhere with UPS, but I was told by a potential referral he couldn't help me since he's never flown with me.............. Hoping to not run into same situation at Continental....

If you were IAH based between May '03 to March '04 and flew with a captain named Miller you can e-mail me. I'd be happy to check my logs and recommend you at CAL. I don't know if it's a requirement, though.