Hello All,
As someone who would like to fly for Delta, but would also like to stay on the west coast, I was hoping to gain some insight on the LAX flying. What type of flying does the 75/76 mostly do? 737? What are the reserve callout rules? How long might it take to get a spot there?
Much Appreciated, Thanks!

 

If you want to fly for Delta out of LAX, apply to Alaska....

 

I also would love to learn this information if anyone could answer Rock's question. Thanks.

 

Rock,

The 737 and 75/6 perform mostly trans con flights to the Eastern Coast. Some rotations link through SLC. We used to do a lot of Mexico and still do a little up the west coast, but as others have written, much of that flying has been outsourced to our codeshare partners.

Very hard to guess how long it would take to hold LAX. Right now the junior person on the bid is a 11/2007 hire.

 

Your question could take many paragraphs to answer thoroughly.
Here's a quick recap. Maybe someone else can elaborate more.

The 737 does mostly domestic flying with a bit of Mexico, Caribbean.
Mostly 3 or 4 day trips with quite a bit of longer range stuff. Transcons to NYC, Boston, Florida, etc. plus west coast to the eastern hubs, (DTW, MSP, ATL,). etc

The 757,767 is a mix of domestic and international. The 757 flying is very similar to the 737. The 767 flying is a bit of Europe (mostly Paris next month) and a lot of Asia and Hawaii. You have trips as long as 10 days that go in and out of Tokyo, Nagoya, Guam, Beijing, Shanghai, Honolulu, etc. etc. Lots of layover time in Narita.

The reserve rules are hard to explain in a short forum post but the basics are that you are on call about 16 or 18 days each month. You have some (up to 6) days on "short call" where you have to be at the airport in 2 hours or less after the phone rings. The rest of the days are "long call" and you have 12 hours to make it in after contact. You basically have to live local or have a crash pad. Bottom line = Commuting to reserve sucks. If you live in base its not so bad except the pay guarantee needs to be higher. (its only 70 hours)

How long til you can get based in LAX is the hardest question. It depends on how much hiring takes place after you get hired. No new hires have gone directly to LAX but it probably won't be long til they can get there if upward movement continues. The bottom reserves in LAX are pretty junior on both the 737 and the 7ER. However, if the economy slows, things stagnate and hiring stops it could take a long time. Nobody can predict for sure.

 

Thanks Check. Are LAX guys responsible for multiple airports like NYC? Do you know if people who live there (especially reserve) are concentrated in one particular location, i.e. living, crashpad? Thanks again-really helps.

 

LAX pilots also cover Ontario and Orange County. Pretty unusual for a reserve to get called out to one of those airports though. It happens, but not very often.
Crew skeds understands Los Angeles. They know it can take a lot longer than 2 hours to get somewhere at rush hour. The key is "reasonableness". Don't sit LAX short call from San Diego. Long call -yes. Short call - no.

I think guys live just about everywhere out there. Is anything concentrated in one particular location in LA?
If you are on reserve though, its like I said. Short call has to be "reasonably" close by.

 

 

+1 from the Dude.

 

Thank you for some good info there, much appreciated.

If I may, an 11/07 hire has how many guys below him on the list? It seems that hiring at DL has been stagnant for most of those last years.

Just trying to get an idea of IF LAX stays the same, size-wise/seniority-wise, and IF DL hires an average of 300/year (?? rumor mill/retirements/wag), what is a realistic timeframe?

Not that I wouldn't be happy anyway, just splittin' hairs...

Thanks!