What’s the outlook for IAH as a new hire FO? How about fresh CA? I know ORD is not realistic so I’m trying to see about IAH.

There are people closing in on 18 months from date of hire still on reserve in IAH. It's not moving at all. Just about every FO who can upgrade seems to be waiting until they can hold IAH as a captain before upgrading, but there aren't any vacancies on that side, either.

It's extremely stagnant, and that doesn't seem like it's going to change any time soon. UA is using four 175 carriers in IAH now (again), and they don't seem interested in helping us grow the base. That's not to say it's necessarily shrinking (every month people have left have been replaced by the same number of people, so it's not getting smaller, at least staffing-wise), but it's just stagnant. The last three monthly vacancy bids have seen exactly zero vacancies in IAH on either side, in a time when increasingly every other base has vacancies. MCI is the only other one that seems to have a similar level of stagnation.

To put it into perspective, I live within driving distance of Houston and I'm bidding out of IAH next month to a different base. I am able to hold a line in every other base we have, but only intermittently get a line in IAH. Having a line in a different base with lots of commutable trips is preferable to me then being within a 3 hour drive and intermittently being reserve.

Bottom line: Republic is a great place to work, but if you live west of the Mississippi expect to have to commute. If there are options out there that don't require a (longer) commute, I'd definitely look at those, too.

Thank you so much for your reply! I’m living in Phoenix and really set on not moving.... but I don’t really like my options in PHX if you catch my drift. So trying to see what my options would be for commuting.

Pretty sure Republic regrets opening a base in IAH. They expected to get some more flying from UA, instead they sht all over the quality and on time performance Republic brings to go for the cheapest contract. One thing is for sure, it will not grow. Wouldn't be surprised if Republic shuts it down as soon as it is contractually able to.

IAH is too stagnant to make sense for a phx commuter. MCI is similar, easy commute but slow moving seniority.

ORD is okay on the FO side, but the UA/AA flights are always full with commuters left behind.

BOS, DCA or EWR make lots of sense. It's a long commute but holding a line means more days off and less time in the crash pad. More flight time too.

IND, SDF, CMH, PIT are okayish for a west coast commuter. Plan on commuting in the day before, spending the night after the trip in the pad.

Man that blows, I was looking forward to leaving Indy and moving home to Houston. My wife is on my ass about these Midwest winters!

So as much as I love RAH Skywest isn’t an option? For those in either IAH or PHX?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just curious, but anyone know if there’s MIA flights going into any other RAH bases? PIT? LGA? Anything? Just trying to get a sense for what life would be like once I’m commuting out of MIA until I can hold it.

We usually operate the first flight of the day MIA-LGA (and the 10am return), currently all MIA-SDF, and some MIA-PIT/IND/IAH/MCI. Changes like the seasons, though. Keep in mind Delta operates plenty of MIA-LGA frequencies on mainline, and I've batted about .900 on dozens of tries with them. AA...not so much.

Thanks for the response. That’s good info. Just trying to see my options out of MIA