Dude -- I am so sorry. That was an extremely unfortunate event, especially since there were a lot of folks who had class dates. Hopefully most of those folks didn't already quit their jobs. As you might imagine there is a lot of internal discussion here in DAL about how that all went down.

I will say, though -- AA is hiring like gangbusters. If you have any interest in working there I'd apply yesterday. Of all the majors, they are the only ones who I would predict will not slow hiring at all this year. Their retirements alone are off the charts. (I'm sure you know this, so sorry if I am mentioning the obvious.)

Hopefully WN will stick to the plan that was announced for the guys who had class dates cancelled, and call everyone back in order of their CJO. It seems like they're very committed to honoring that commitment, from what we've been told.

And the same recommendation about AA goes to you. Who knows how long you’ll on the bottom of our list.

Either way, welcome.

He lives in the Bay Area and has a UAL CJO. Goal is to drive to work…not make QOL worse by commuting. With UAL pausing hiring, him coming here was the smart play. He can bail when they offer a class if he chooses to.

The other day I wrote an email I never in my life would have imagined writing, which was to withdraw from my AA class date. I'd have been in class right now. I started in professional aviation right after 9/11, so the idea that I'd ever have a class date at a major -- let alone multiple ones -- was just too implausible to consider. But going to AA would have meant commuting for the 15 years I have left in this career, and I didn't think that would be wise.

Still, it felt utterly awful to write that letter.

Everyone is super welcoming here. Training is top notch from what I've seen so far. Just being in the Lead center is fascinating with all the memorabilia and mil flight suits hanging up. "That building was decorated by pilots, not administrators", was my pilot wife's comment.

Lots of great folks in my class. The young guys (and girls) in my class are universally focused, dedicated, and are absolutely smarter and faster to learn this systems curriculum than I ever was at their age. It's humbling (in a good way) to be in class with people who are picking up this stuff better than I can, and yet I was running a flight school not long after they were born....

The base dynamics have changed significantly however... Looks like all new hires are going to BWI and MCO for the foreseeable future. It's difficult to anticipate, as you say, just how long the 2024 hires will be at the bottom of the list, which presents the very real possibility of transcon commuting to reserve for quite a while. But then again, if I had a dollar for every time I'd tried to predict the future and gotten it wrong...

Got my UAL class date in 10 days. So, decisions to be made. But right now I don't have any spare brain cells to think about anything other than our Systems oral in 2 days. I can't remember if the retroconfabulator is powered by AC/DC or GnR...🤔

Congrats, man. It's a good problem to have.

Tough decisions to make for sure. No idea where new hires will end up at UAL with hiring stopping for the summer. If drops are out west…QOL is king.

From what I know of you on this board, it's our loss man. But absolutely the right call. Good luck on the next 15 years - I think you'll be in good shape regardless of what you decide. [/size]

Well, UAL versus SWA is a no-brainer presently. So best of luck to you at UAL and enjoy the next 15 years (hopefully without another black swan event).

May be coming sooner than expected.

Thank you so much for that, I really appreciate it. So much opportunity and movement at AA these days and for the foreseeable future. I'm sure I'd have been happy there. And I thank you for your classy comment