T Bone is correct. That is one nice thing about the 88. No red eyes.

 

Thanks tbone, that's good advice.

Good thing is by the time i'm out of training, NYC won't be too cold

 

realize that just because there are openings posted doesn't mean they will be filled immediately.

There have been tons of 88 openings for a while, but they haven't been making up the majority of new hire classes. For one, the training department can't handle 60 new hires a month in the 88. They have to spread the wealth. There's only so many cockpit trainers, sims, and instructors. In 2008 so far, seems to be about 1/3 of the new hire slots have been 88s to NY (shuttle), a third 7ER to NY, and the rest a spattering of other things...73s to NY/LA/even CVG, plus 88/90s to SLC. Note that even though there are a ton of ATL 88s open, there still have been NONE given to new hire classes lately. Another thing--and this is just a guess, since I have no credentials whatsoever to say this--is that the 88 (and domestic in general) doesn't really make the company money. I'd guess if they had to leave anything short staffed (so to speak), it would be the 88, so they could fully man the ER and all the money making international stuff for the summer.

Don't hurt yourself trying to figure out what your drop will be. There's no real way to tell and you'll just frustrate yourself. Just have a good idea how you would rank order your choices. The list will be thrown up on the board the first AM of indoc and you'll probably pick by noon, so you only get a couple hours to think it over. Give some thought to all the other bases, too...LAX/SLC/CVG. There have been several of those lately. Might be easier for you than NYC, but who knows if they'll be in your drop.

 

As I understand it, CVG is pretty senior. In the off chance a guy could get CVG what do you think about the following?

With the way the reserve rules work, how would it be to have a 5 hour drive and sit reserve? You could sit long call at home because you know that you'd make it if converted to short call, but I'm unsure exactly how this all works. Say you're on reserve Mon-Fri. They all start out long call? Could you (in theory) be long call Mon at home, be short call on Tues then they let you on long call again on Wed (but you don't want to drive the 10 hours roundtrip), short call on Thurs etc... negating the flexability of sitting reserve at home and lead you to sitting in the crashpad all the same? Am I understanding the reserve policy correct?

 

As a former DAL MD-88 FO I can attest that the good thing is its all daylight flying. Latest I ever flew was up to about 11:00 PM. 'Course, your flying 3 to 4 legs a day on average. Sorta like SWA.

From my previous experience, it would be very difficult/painful to commute to the 88.

 

Although if you're a commuter and on reserve, a redeye is a beautiful thing! You can get home AND nuke a day of reserve. When still commuted last year, I loved those things. Catch a nice nap on the ride home, get in and relax a bit more- then you're in good shape and it was almost like an extra day off.

I've been on reserve on the ATL767 since last July- was the plug when I bid to it- It has been great. The trips are laid back, you get alot of nice flying out west and down south to FL, Central America, and the Carribbean- even some northern South America.

I know my trips most of the time 18 hours or so in advance... I've only been called on short call once.

It's a great deal... I'm hoping to be holding a line here in a few months, but we'll see. It all depends on this newest AE.

 

deleted, wrong thread

 

Do the Maddog...it's good for ya...j/k! The NYC bunch is great so don't sweat it too much if you do wind up there. Do your time and bid again later to something else once you're more educated. It does seem like there are constantly folks getting slots to other bases on the 88/90...so why go through training more than once and be seat locked in your first year? Lots of folks have the "big shiny jet syndrome" that compels them into something that isn't good for them. It's really a little different for everyone. I don't think the pay is any different the first year or so minus the int'l rates etc. After you look at the reserve guarantee on other airplanes versus average line values for the 88...it blurs further. Initially the ER is probably easier to commute but then holding a line on the 88 can be pretty nice. The 88 category is traditionally filled from the bottom so you can look at future numbers and have a little bit of an idea of where you'll be in Sept. The entire 88B category in NYC is pretty small...approx 60-70 folks. Use that number to see where you'll wind up. The ER is subject to folks rolling in on top of you seniority wise. They get to where they can hold a line and then bid in on top of you to the ER. If you're junior you'll probably stay somewhat junior on that senior airplane. Who cares though if you like int'l stuff and live in base. The QOL will be pretty good. Good luck with it and chose what's best for you but realize that it's all pretty good!

 

Don't bid a tough commute just to get a regular line. Even in a growing category, you could move backwards if senior guys bid in on top of you. Loss of regular lineholder status won't entitle you to bump elsewhere, and now you have reserve and the tough commute!

 

Thanks all for the great advice. I have classdates available in the same timeframe at CAL and AT, but I think I'm making the right decision choosing DAL (even with the merger). Anyone disagree?

It looks like we may or may not see anything to ATL in our drop, but that would probably work best for the commute. It sounds like "most" of the time I'd have more than 12 hours notice, but if the situation arose that iaflyer mentioned with an 8pm call for short-call starting at 8am, I couldn't make it. If you cannot GUARANTEE that you'll make it to short-call when converted, is it even possible to sit long-call at home?

Any idea how fast one would move up in the 73 CVG or -90 SLC compared to -88 ATL or ER NYC? I keep hearing about CVG being senior, so I'm wondering if that would again be signing up for a year or more on reserve?

Sully, good point about RJ jumpseating. All the "DAL" nonstops to/from SLC and CVG I mentioned are RJs. My options to NYC would be a nonstop off-line or a two-hop on-line (88) commute. I'm using amadeus.net...anyone have another favorite?

Thanks again...I appreciate you all taking the time to respond.