Hi,

I'm sorry if this is a really noob question but I am just trying to get a better understanding of the industry. I am wondering, if you are a captain on one plane type and upgrade to another are you a captain on that new plane or are you downgraded to FO? For example, lets say I get hired as an FO on a 737, then I upgrade to captain, now when I upgrade to a 757 do I maintain my captain status or do I become an FO? Bottom line: once a captain for a major are you always a captain for that company regardless of aircraft?

Thanks!

 

have you tried google or the forum's search function?

 

Ok, first, an understanding of the terms might help.

Initial, differences, transition, upgrade, recurrent. This blog may help:

Blogging at FL250: Training Days, Part II: Transition, Differences, Upgrade, and Recurrent

 

It's ALL 100% seniority-based. You get what your seniority can hold (attain). If you are hired as a 757 FO and 10 years later you can hold 737 CA, you bid it and get it. If you're a 757 CA and want 777 CA, you can bid it but you won't get it if your seniority # can't hold it. Or you can go the other way, too - i.e. 737 CA to 767 FO. You don't ever have to set foot in a particular a/c before transitioning or upgrading to it.

 

You bid what your seniority can hold. Your seniority is determined by when you were hired. Basically everyone starts at or near the bottom as an FO. When enough guys either retire (which won't happen for another 3 years and 18 days), quit or die, or the company grows, and your relative seniority goes up to the point that you can bid and hold a captain position you are awarded it. Most guys at a major start as an FO on one of the narrow bodies and then move to progressively larger planes as their seniority increases. When they are senior enough, they typically take a captain bid on a narrow body. As their seniority increases further, they move to captain on pregressively larger and higher paying planes. There are plently of exceptions with some guys wanting to remain senior as either an FO forever, or remaining a captain on a narrow body when they could hold widebody. Seniority on a particular plane enables you to get the trips, days off, vacations etc that you want.

 

Or YOU could nicely answer the gentlemans question.

 

Well lets see here.....

First you make captain on the most junior a/c. Shortly thereafter your airline will furlough, and you will be displaced back to the right seat, but probably in a base and a/c you want to be in. In a few years you will have to choose between upgrading again but commuting across the country or keeping your FO seniority and base of your choice. After a few months you will finally decide to take the upgrade again, only to find out that your airline has just been bought out, and all upgrades have been cancelled.

Did I miss anything guys?

 

Ya the part about people 5 yrs Jr to you and 10 years younger going ahead of you on the seniority list after the buyout.

 

The airline industry, for the most part, is a seniority based system. You start at the bottom, usually in the lowest paying seat, in the lowest paying aircraft, then as your seniority improves, you get to bid to either a new seat, or a new aircraft, or both. The usual transition is (considering no major airlines have flight engineer seats anymore) you'd start as a first officer on a narrow-body jet, then move up to a larger jet (either narrow or wide-body) depending on your seniority and the openings in those seats. You might do this two or three times before you are finally senior enough to hold a captain position, again, usually on the smallest jet your company operates. Then it all starts again, with you waiting until your seniority and seats available allow you to hold a captain's seat on a larger jet. Then the same thing again.

Of course, there are some guys who will make captain, only to down-bid to an f/o seat, usually for quality of life reasons. Most guys who make captain don't want to give up that authority again, so they either stay in their seat, or wait until their seniority can offer them another captain's seat in a larger jet.

As has been said, pay scales start at the bottom on the smallest jet, and go to the top on the largest jet. This is true at the vast majority of airlines. Some guys chase the bucks, others chase quality of life, and others try to find a happy balance between the two. If I were to do it again, I'd marry a independently wealthy woman, then do the flying that I enjoyed the most, regardless of what it paid. But that's just me.

JJ

 

A rich nymphomaniac who owns a liquor store. Is that too much to ask??!