As a direct entry captain you will likely be on reserve for a couple of years (Probably in Philadelphia though) Many of your trips will be one or two days. I don’t think that is really what you were looking for.

To hold a line with mostly not four day trips will take a long time if it is possible at all.

I think a plan of sitting reserve for several hundred hours then moving on is your best scenario.

No.
No.
N/A.

I have not seen more than a couple trips that are less than 4 days in the bids in a long, long time.

Most lines are 4 day trips for some reason. But with SAP, I live in base so I usually swap for as many 2/3 trips as possible. I usually end up with one 4 day and then a mix of 2/3 day trips. Sometimes I’ll see a 1 day which is nice.

It’s definitely one of my gripes with PSA though. I wish we had more schedules with turns or 2/3 day trips. I know other regionals have a better variety and you can get those types of lines if you chose to do so.

Also, I agree with what Urban Achiever said regarding the scheduling and SAP pre-COVID but since it’s just been a lot of garbage in the bids. I used to be able to do the 18 days off with 65-70 hours. Now it’s hard to get trips worth more that 17 hours so good luck getting that much time off meeting the minimum requirement of 65 hours. If you’re willing to work every weekend it could help since those trips tend to be a little higher credit but still….nowhere near where it used to be.

For December I was able to get 65 hours and 18 days off. haven’t been able to do that in a few months. Granted I am working a few weekends, but I don’t really care about that as much.

I’ve heard from quite a few that “SAP, isn’t what it used to be.” Does anyone think this is based on domicile, a reduction in flying, or the company making it useless to push PBS?

I'd say it's mostly due to a reduction in flying. We still are not flying as many hours as we did pre-COVID. The total number of passengers is still down, largely due to less international travel. Less passenger demand equals less flights scheduled, and the WOs get the leftovers after AA sends flying to the FFD partners. This means the company builds as many lines as they can but compared to pre-COVID there is not as much flying (not as many high-credit trips) left in the SAP open time pot after Round 1 lines are awarded.

That said, I think line values increased a lot for December. There were way more lines above 90 or 85 (or pick your reference point that's higher than min guarantee) hours compared to the last couple months.

SAP still gets you the time off you want/need, the only change is that these days it's harder to get that time off while also keeping your credit above 65.

any cadets here? I'm almost finished with my hours but I've been really confused on what is going on with the program and what the next steps are for me. Anyone recently finish the program?

No clue about Cadets or Recruiting. I believe there's an email for recruiting?? [email protected]? Don't Cadets have mentors? Not sure..