Breaker11

And I completely agree with you on that, and I am fully aware that FOs will not experience things as many times as they should. It’s already happening with a lot of FOs.

It would be great if I had a choice… fly as much as I can, work as hard as I can, and upgrade when I feel ready. Well past 1,000 hours.

But it sounds like this should be preached to the people that are forcing this to happen, the big bosses. But for now, I have to be very careful, and nitpick how many hours I fly per month exactly to avoid upgrading to soon?

QRH Bingo

What a novel idea, I should try that.

I get the whole forced upgrade thing, but you have made it sound like you are intentionally picking up trips and flying on your days off. That is different than flying your awarded line and reaching upgrade time whenever it comes.

Breaker11

Yes, I do pick up on my off days. If I stop that, that wouldn’t help very much.

Average awarded 80 hour/month line: 1000/80 = 12.5 months
My average with picking up extra of 92 hour/month: 1000/92 = 10.8 months

Statistically, not picking up extra trips wouldn’t serve me very well. It wouldn’t allow me to see a whole other year. Sure, bid reserve to not fly, but that’s a big negative for me. Dropping trips isn’t all too easy either. You often see people having to put money incentive for people to pick up their trips.

QRH Bingo

Never did I say you should intentionally bid reserve, nor did I suggest dropping trips. Which, I am well aware the ability to even do that is practically non-existent. Yeah, this discussion veered a bit off course here, but the main point was to address the nature of being impatient and demanding the ability to work your butt off so you can upgrade as quickly as legally possible. (some of that is directed at the OP and others, not necessarily at you). I do not know your experience level, but a good guess would be a young CFI. Nothing wrong with taking advantage of the opportunity to make that direct jump. However, it comes at a cost of building some experience along the way, prior to being in command of an 80,000 pound jet with 80 souls on board at FL380. That was the point, in addition to enjoy life a bit and not over work yourself unnecessarily.

In the end, I agree with your point about those responsible for forced upgrades. The operators themselves will have to answer to whatever the consequences may be. Hopefully, all works out okay without a significant accident involving the loss of life. Yes, I acknowledge even very experienced pilots crash airplanes so no need to point that one out in your rebuttal. Despite what you may believe, I'm on your side here and wish you the best.

atpmax

So the original question was not a statement of dissatisfaction with the industry but a legit question to help make the best career choice. Not all airlines are the same, so the question is put out for an insider's perspective from those of you currently flying for 121 carriers of all types on where a newly minted 1500hr ATP can get hired and best be able to fly and build time and experience other than sitting on reserve gaining nothing but pay. I would happily earn less to sign up with the best carrier (121 or 135) to gain the most flight time and best overall experience to help my career progress. QOL does not always mean time on the couch at home. I have plenty of time later to get jaded, disgruntled and angry and sit on the couch at home.
Most of us are performing the same evaluation, to find a place they can get hired that gives them the best total chance of achieving their individual goals which differ for everyone. There are a number of variables that have a different hierarchy of importance for each person. The whole point of APC is for each of us to be able to ask each other "what can you see from your perspective that I can't see from mine"?
If you have information on a carrier that fly's their pilot's more than average then that's what I (we) are looking for so we can consider them. If you know of a carrier that fly's significantly less than average then that is also useful information on who to avoid (unless your goal is more couch time). If all you can say is," you should just be grateful,and back in my day..." then thanks anyway and commentary not needed. Help a fellow pilot out with some useful information.
Any useful information is GREATLY appreciated.

many Thanks and much respect

QRH Bingo

The problem with your question is there are too many variables to lay it out for you. The simple answer is, "it depends". Not close to the best answer nor what you want.
Yes, most airlines allow those on reserve to select "call first" or "call last" based on seniority. RPA recently implemented that type of program where you can select to be called first and your line up will be based on how many other FOs select "call first". It must be chosen by the 23rd of the previous month, and it is fixed for the entire month. (note: call first is the only option. NOT call last) So, as a brand new FO, if several others also select that feature, you're still close to the bottom. Better than nothing, but it may not help much for your first few months.

Additionally, within each airline, each base has its own personality in terms of who will fly most on reserve. And it changes month to month. Example, one month at RPA ORD might be short on reserves because they awarded many more lines than normal. That month, ORD reserves will likely fly a lot. That same month, in another base, there are 100% more reserves than normal because mainline pulled a bunch of flying for that month. Therefore, reserves will be flying much less. Next month, the cards are thrown into the air and get shuffled all around.

Your best bet to fly the most will be to figure out which base will give you a line the fastest. Currently, at RPA, it seems like CMH is that base. But that could (likely will) change in 4 months.

I hope this at least makes sense even if you may not find it helpful.

Skyquest

Love ‘em or hate em I have friends who’ve recently complete ioe for rpa flying 80hrs a mo

AerChungus

If I were doing it all over again, I would have focused more on how cyclical the industry is. Right now, FO slots are few and far between. They are hiring waves of FOs in short bursts and if you're on the front of the wave, then great, you have good seniority and you fly. If you're at the back of the wave, you're a casualty of the Captain shortage and you are on reserve forever until you quit to go to Frontier with 150 hours to show for the last 6 months.

Why do you think new hire Republic FOs have been flying so much? Because Republic didnt hire from October 2022 until like May 2023 and the people you are hearing about who are flying 80 hours a month were people who went to class in May and finished IOE in August. Ill bet all those September 2022 hires who were the plug for 7 months would tell you a very different story about their time-building efforts.
That being said, I would look at the airlines that recently haven't run much of any classes. I don't keep super current on who that is, maybe Endeavor and CommuteAir, but I would say if you really want to build time fast in the era of CA-shortage regionals, you need to have as few new hire FOs senior to you as possible. If you hear people consistently saying "X regional sucks, they haven't been hiring because there's no flight time and all the FOs are quitting", put your app in to that one right away because soon enough, they are going to need to hire again and you'll be at the front of the wave.

AirBear

Oh yea! Back in 1996 USAir wanted to furlough and downgrade Captains but the union contract forbid furloughs and we had a min number of Captains clause. Someone in management got the bright idea to move all the excess pilots to the Fokker-28 (aka "Smurf-Jet). With 67 seats the PIC was paid $2/hr less than 737 F/O. I was on the DC-9 DCA based and was displaced to CLT F-28 Captain. They held me in DCA for the max 4 months and then tried to hold me a 5th month until I called and said no way. So I got to sit at home from May-July when I started F-28 initial. I finished IOE in August. Well guess what happens when you put a whole lot of excess pilots on one fleet type? There wasn't even enough flying to keep us current. So USAir came up with the "inactive list". We were sent home with 71 hour guarantee and had no responsibilities. I worked at a computer store from September 1996 until February 1997 while I still drew my 71 hours. ALPA grieved the inactive list saying it should be done by seniority bidding rather than assigning it to the junior pilots but the Arbitrator said since the issue wasn't addressed in the contract the company could do what they wanted.

Freight

Yep, regionals are hiring with minimal qualifications while paying 4x more than they use to (not including signing bonuses) and people are still complaining.