This becomes a very grey decision when you base it on just numbers and metrics.

Disclaimer: i stayed 20++ and have a great check every month on the first, but i flew my whole career and my windows to bail were when hiring was marginal.

Best advice i got was to stick around as long as you are having fun (my definition was mainly did i get to go flying regularly) and they are promoting you. And i did, but when the fun meter came off the peg near the end, it only kept moving downwards, and quickly. Know a lot of folks who finished their 20 or 30 behind a desk and were miserable, and some were good to go and did the RJ experience and got on at a major.

Airline life is great. Happy to be here. But i would have been miserable if i did this as a LT or LCDR. There is a reason so many folks at that seniority get out and then work their butts off to get back into a reserve squadron.

Good luck.

Not even close. Speaking for UAL, all of the senior FO's, on every wide body fleet, can hold captain on the same airplane or very close to it.

5200 at UAL right now makes you a middle of the pack 757/767 FO, or mid to upper NB captain.

Just a wag but 3000 or less to be a senior WB FO.

4000 numbers difference in seniority is a career difference of light years, they're not even comparable.

I get it, AD and the retirement is a nice little warm blanket. If you don't want to let it go just stop thinking about this stuff for a few years. If you want a better quality of life from day one however, get out now and Jump in. No ones ever surfed the backside of a wave.

For the OP, I was in a similar situation,15.5 yrs served out. Ultimately it becomes a money vs quality of life decision, and you have to just decide whether you are going to take the risk. I had all single seat single engine time myself and just over 2k hours...didn't matter. Right now is a phenomal time for the close to retirement dudes to make this gamble. I heard crickets for 2 months but then 3 majors in one week emailed. Several other invites trickled in over the following 2 months. Got hired by my 1&2, and never called back for the brown interview. I didn't like filing for separation and then not hearing a thing for 2 months, but I chose QoL over money, and I can say my life is amazingly more enjoyable now. It really is different, and seniority importance cannot be understated. The majors love former mil, and I would argue those separating and not getting calls either aren't active flying or have errors in their app they haven't caught yet. I've even heard stories of dudes who aren't active flying getting calls from majors now. If money didn't matter, this question would never come up for 99% of us, so the real question is how much money in the bank do you want to die with because that's all this fork in the road is about.

Live NE of DCA within driving distance of PHL. That's where the European w/b flying will be.

1200 seniority is a junior 777 CA *OR* very nice 777 FO seniority. Trips are good enough that you can cute from
anywhere in the US to fly the 'dozing for dollars' for man trips (2-3x per month).

Have a buddy at an airline sit down with you and show you year by year what different seniority numbers fly. Retiring at 4000 vs 1200 means you spend about twice as long in each of the junior seats and the 4000 guy tops out as a junior (50%?) CA while the guy that retires at 1200 would have the junior years replaced by senior 777/787 FO, senior n/b CA, and junior 777/787 CA time *IF* he chooses. If he doesn't choose that he'd have years of getting every single holiday and summer vacations off as a senior n/b FO.

The seniority gives you options.

The 'NE of DCA' is for AA. Near DCA, especially to the west, is great for UA and IAD.

thanks, that's what I'm hoping/banking on.

What DOH (for a original UAL guy) does 5200 and 3000 represent?

What seats are the May 99 UAL people holding?

a great read...

Comparing a Military Retirement to Starting Early at an Airline | AviationBull

No idea to the first part.

Flying with a lot of newish captains from the UAL side around that time frame. Not quite sure where the furlough line was drawn but it's around the 99-00 timeframe I think.

It went back to early 99, may have even caught some late 98 hires.

:confused: Your new seniority list doesn't show DOH at the original companies?