Will these training delays put an end to the fast upgrades?

If it takes 6 months to get out of training, won't that give FO's already on property the chance to get their 1000 hours and upgrade? Seems that any FOs that were hired this past summer will be able to upgrade before the new hires that are going to PDT for the "quick upgrade".

Is PDT still only hiring 10 per class/20 per month? How many upgrades per month?

So something longer than 6 months is a long upgrade? You're crazy.

Many of the PDT FOs I know are happily sitting as FO to collect their FO bonus ($20k) before they consider a CA upgrade since CAs only get $7500.

ORF will not happen... AA doesn't want anymore outstation bases. The only outstation that maaayyyyybe could happen is RIC since we have a mx hub there. BOS is also unlikely. The two most likely candidates are DCA and RDU for the time being. But the focus now is to staff PHL. New base will come after that.

First of all, if they bypass upgrade for a couple thousand dollars, then they have serious issues. That is just plain stupid.

And no, not a 6 month upgrade. That is not what I am saying. If it takes 6 months to finish FO training, and in that time, FOs that are already on property get their 1000 hours in the meantime, then it may mean a 2 year upgrade as compared to an immediate upgrade.

I have heard of several AWAC pilots that went to PDT recently so they could get an immediate upgrade. But, if there are enough FOs already on property that are able to upgrade before the new hires finish training and are able to upgrade, then the fast upgrade is gone.

Do travel privilages apply on one world airlines? Or do we get a discount at least?

Hell yeah! I'll see you there, in that class too.

Check your PMs

That would be true if we did not continue growing, but we will continue to keep taking deliveries of 2-3 E145s a month.

My personal prediction is 145 upgrades will continue to stay junior, even moreso than the dash.

Considering that our most junior Captain award is a Sept '16 hire, it doesn't appear that there is any delay in the upgrade times just yet. Everyone has to get hired and qualify as an FO before bidding upgrade anyway. That process takes a minimum of 3 months as is. Our pilot group is junior enough that people who have been around for over a year still don't have the required 121 time to upgrade. It's also worth considering that pilots who come in with a R-ATP are still required to obtain 2500 TT before upgrading. I think seniority to hold upgrade will still stay under 1 year through 2017. AAG also wants to increase the number of 145s that are coming on property as well, this should bolster the need for captains.

Just my $0.02 obviously, but there was a sim backlog all of last year, and upgrades still stayed low with an overall minimal net gain of airframes on property.

Explain this to me..

You are hiring 20 a month at most, due to your inept training department that can't even get 20 pilots a month through without long delays.

You are flowing at least 5, and probably losing another 5 a month at least to outside attrition.

So, you are adding 10 pilots a month, but adding 2-3 airplanes a month? How are you going to staff them? That is mathematically impossible!

My guess is that you will only add 145's at the same rate that you are parking the Dash. You may be able to add 1 additional 145 every couple of months for growth, but that is about it.

For the record, we have 50 new hires since 12/5/16. I also wouldn't lay the burden of the backlog on the training department. It's a logistical problem until the CLT sim is up and running. Having to shuffle people between DFW, CLT, and STL does not exactly breed a streamlined training experience.

BUT, we'll take your hypothetical as fact for the sake of argument. If PDT is growing a net of 10 pilots a month and receiving at minimum 1 additional airframe, isn't that staffable growth? It is a fact that there is overall airframe growth at PDT right now. Your logic, while trying to prove that low upgrades are unstainable, is actually proving the contrary. All the while, the additional 10 pilots who aren't getting through the training program expediently are receiving paid vacation while they wait! I'm putting words in your mouth, but in this case, they're your own.