New Hire Bases and DCA
 

Long time reader, first time poster. Greetings.

I live in DC and I have a January class date with RPA. Trying to project how initial base assignments are given and what those will be (PIT, CMH, etc...). Are requests taken or they assigned randomly initially?

Also, how soon could DCA be held as a new hire FO? Would it be possible by the end of IOE or should I expect to commute for a few months (and to where)?

Being that I live in DC, it’s a big reason why I chose Republic—just trying to see what my outlook will be for DCA. Thanks.

Welcome to Republic! Sneak a peek at the FAQ stickied at the top and you'll find some basic answers there.

If you're not gunning for IAH or MIA, you'll get to your base of choice quick.

Gotta pay those dues in an outstation for a while, but you should be able to get to DCA with a few months. Good thing is you can get to those outstations on our metal out of DCA. Junior DCA guy for December is a 7/23/19 hire, junior lineholder Jan 2019 hire.

Does RPA still have an ORD base?

Yes.

As to OP, you'll be able to get LGA until you can get into DCA and the commute between the 2 is incredibly easy. It wont take long for DCA.

I think so, but dramatically downsized over the last few years.

Thanks! Hearing and looking forward to good things. And, absolutely, some good information there. Thank you. I’m sure it’s fluid but pretty good bet to plan on LGA/EWR for a few months? Definitely don’t mind paying the proverbial dues, just always trying to plan ahead. Thanks again!

Absolutely—I don’t mind paying my dues and spending time wherever it may be, even at an outstation if it may be, before holding my choice. Just trying to plan what those outstation or other base options would be for planning purposes (do I have friends/family at one of them, looking at commuting routes, etc...).

And thank you for those latest numbers. If I’m looking at them correctly, training footprint is about four months including IOE so I could have reserve out of DCA by the time I would be off IOE and holding a DCA line a few months after that.

If I am interpreting this incorrectly, please let me know.

Thank you, this helps. Would you say LGA would be the easiest commute from DCA and would make more sense while I wait for DCA?

And, if so, what would be #2 if LGA wasn’t an option?

Yes. Far better than any other base. EWR would be the next best as United plans to make ewr-dca a shuttle service.

Is IND a new hire Base since SDF opened up? And who’s junior IND or SDF?

Of the two, recent new hires have been getting SDF, IND seems to be taking a little longer.

Wonder who has the best lines

IND is typically senior on both sides. People love the Vatican City. Why? I'm still trying to figure that out.

I don't think there have been any vacancies on either side in Indy for last couple of months. It's been moving slow for awhile.

Meanwhile 14 PIT FO vacancies in March.....

What Base is best for a commuter who lives in IND if I didn’t get it out of training?

SDF would probably be a little better given the quickest drive time from Indy. It's small, with lots of early starts and late finishes, so you'd probably still want a crash pad.

So what Base doesn’t have early shows and late finishes? Where can you find the best commutable lines?

I’ve been thinking about this since I live in IND and may not get it out of training. It seems SDF or ORD would be at the top as an FO. SDF cause it’s the closest and you can drive. ORD because there are usually 15+ flights a day and you could also drive if you need to.

After that, in no particular order and basing it purely on one leg commutes of about the same distance:
EWR, LGA, DCA, PHL and BOS.

Next would be MIA or IAH because those would also be one leg commutes, but much longer flights than the above and usually less flights each day.

At the bottom of the list would be MCI*, PIT and CMH because they are all too far to drive and they are all two leg commutes.

*MCI - SW does fly IND-MCI six days a week most months so that could move it up the list.

Understand that this list is based mainly on distance and number of one leg flights, and doesn’t account for commutable trips or base seniority.

I’ll tell you what I really wish IND wasn’t an outstation that has early shows and late arrivals. Late being 2300 every night. Seems like you could commute and be home sooner. Is SDF an outstation? Because if SDF isn’t and gets you home at descent hour that would be better base since my drive is almost the same either way

I think you don't understand what an outstation is. Outstations are the cities that aren't hubs where we have bases. NY, ORD, BOS, MIA, and IAH are hubs. That's where the mainline carriers have their bases i.e. hubs. We have bases at outstations like IND, CMH, and SDF because they're cheap and have room to grow, not because the traveling public are all clamoring to get there. It's where the heavy MX facilities are because we can't afford/have no space for those kind of facilities at hub airports. Much cheaper to have a hangar at IND than EWR. It's also why a lot of pairings in and out of the outstations start or end with a lot of deadheads.

Thanks for this you’re right I didn’t understand what is was and also didn’t understand which ones were the main hubs. So with SDF being an outstation it would most likely have the same type of scheduling as IND with early dep and late arrivals?

Yes. Reason is, you have to get passengers to the hubs for the early flights and you can be the last flight home after those last flights get in. Being IND based it's about 50/50 whether it starts early and ends late. You can bid only stuff that starts later or gets in earlier if you have the seniority to hold it. I'm only 20 minutes from the airport so I prefer the days off I want vs the start/end time I want

Worst case if you don’t get IND out of training how long would it take to hold it? And is IND junior or senior?

Probably just a month or two out of training I would expect. Indy is about average on the FO side, but very senior on the captain side. 5-6 year captains are on the edge between reserve and a line.

How long is FO Reserve currently in IND?

When went through it was about a year from hire date. So like 8-9 months. But YMMV since there's been a lot of movement in the seniority list since SDF opened. In the past couple months I moved up about 30 or so spots

ORD hasn't changed at all in the last 3 years. Still around ~54 CAs and FOs each.

Newest class base award
CMH 4
PIT 2
LGA 5
SDF 4
DCA 1
PHL 1

I'm a little surprised the class is that small...has that been the norm lately?

I believe they're running classes every week, not every two weeks.

I’m not sure! Haha sorry I couldn’t be more helpful

Seems to be 20 give or take a few for the last few classes. Not sure how many were in the class that started today.