For you guys at the majors.......

When contemplating an upgrade to CA or to a more senior aircraft, what criteria do you use to decide if the extra pay is enough to offset becoming more junior in base/seat/AC?

Is it weekends off, summer vacation, strictly pay, or a combo of all those?

At what point is the extra pay enough to offset the relatively loss of seniority?

Only you can answer that for you. With input from your family. Its individual for everyone

So many factors once at your "hopeful last stop" airline.

At every place before that though, I upgraded as soon as I was able to hold a livably commutable base (ended up coinciding with first possible opportunity).

In my case it'd be a coast to coast transcon commute to reserve CA or stay in base as a senior FO. Choosing to stay senior FO for now and see how many CAs come below in the upcoming bids. I would take it if I could hold a line and bid for home overnights (NYC). But bottom barrel reserve is just ugh. Maybe if I could consistently hold either LCR or PM reserve I might consider.

One man’s opinion.

A wise old Captain once told me, Upgrade at your first chance because you never know when the brass ring will swing away and possibly lock you out for what could be several years.

I upgraded just about as soon as I could (AA.) LGA 737. Took 17 years almost to the day. Luckily our junior upgrade bases are LGA and MIA, and since I live in the DC area I figured commuting to LGA reserve wouldn’t be too bad. Guess what, 10 other guys also got the upgrade along with me, all junior to me, so I waltzed right in to holding Long Call Reserve (12hr callout) which made it a breeze. Then, movement started happening so fast that I started holding a line only three months later.

I did it mainly for the huge 401k increase on the back end of the career, as well as the huge monthly pay raise (significant.) Lastly, life in the right seat was getting kinda stale after 17 years, lol. The 16% company input 401k gains after you upgrade are magnified many $$$ thousands over when you retire. Huge retirement gains make it worth it right there by itself.

Have not regretted the decision one bit. Highly recommend it as long as it doesn’t trash your QOL.

That said, if your airline has a decent wide body fleet and you’d be a senior WB FO making the same coin as a junior NB CA, I can see that being a smart decision too.

Some FO’s upgrade and then bid FO again. It’s what works for you at that point of your life.

And sometimes FO’s with no plans of upgrading suddenly change their mind.Multiple trips with some of the least popular CA’s can change your POV.

A 15% furlough would delay upgrade roughly 4 yrs at AA. The downside is you’re senior enough to not get displaced you’d probably be a res CA for those 4 yrs and due to displacements you couldn’t bid back to FO. In base you’d be fine. Commuter? It might get old.

After I got hired (mumble) years ago, my first two seat/domicile changes were due to bumps, not bidding, and then I got furloughed.

I was recalled a few years later to start as bottom reserve in a different airplane and domicile.

I never bid anything until I was at least half way up the line-holder list, and I never again commuted. I know that it cost me some money to delay upgrades and bid bigger airplanes, but it was worth it in quality of life, and I finished my career very senior.

Joe

Everyone has heard "never pass up on an upgrade". Next time you hear it make a mental note to how many times that person has been divorced. Nobody on their deathbed looks up at their family and says they wished they would have worked more. There are plenty of situations where things worked out royally like the situation posted above but generally when you see someone who has been commuting for reserve they look like they paid the price.

If you weigh all the negatives and its still worth it, good for you. I wouldn't upgrade to a painful commute or reserve though. Life is too short.

I took the first available, not a huge pay difference from widebody fo to narrowbody CPT. And I will lose some QOL and days off,...

However after roughly 15 yrs of being an FO due to the lost decade etc... I became tired of having to adjust to multiple Captains a month.. and the different ways they ran the cockpit.

Beides not knowing when the good times will end, and worried about being stuck in the right seat, I had another Captain tell me..." your QOL may temporaily suffer, but your Quality of Work will get better immediately."

I have a short commute with the upgrade vs based at home being FO

I'm toying with the idea of upgrading to NB Captain, coming off years of WB FO. I'm not sure I'd get an increase in pay, but the change of pace would be nice. The QOL is great on the WB stuff, but the flying is getting stale.

I figure if I look at upgrading like a prison sentence I'd be ok. Do it for the two year freeze to knock the rust off then go back to the WBFO position when it's up.