I got an offer from United but am considering another airline as well. I’m really excited about United but the only base I’m interested in is Houston, but I don’t know anything about it. If anyone can give any insight on it I would appreciate it. I’m just trying to get a feel for the Houston base: Slow movement? How long to be based there? Will Houston see a good amount of retirements in the near future or does it have a mostly younger pilot group? What are the trip mixes for narrow bodies? Thank you for helping me out.

On the most recent vacancy the junior 737 FO in IAH is 12,121. The most junior pilot system wide is 12,508.

You **should** be able to get IAH fairly quickly but be prepared for a base in SFO or EWR initially.

The 737 is a huge fleet at UAL, IAH is a large base, and the plane goes virtually everywhere so the “trip mix” is quite varied. The senior guys will get the “good” trips and the junior guys not so much.

IAH was a huge hub for CAL before the merger. After the merger, UAL moved a lot of the flying to other hubs, causing a lot of stagnation. It seems that things are slowly moving in the right direction again, and there should be some growth there. It is one of the more senior (older) pilot bases.

being "interested" in only one hub at a major airline is a recipe for disaster over the course of a career.

Just to expand on that....

Prior to the meger CAL artificially grew IAH while downsizing EWR while playing a game of internal politics with ALPA.

After the merger, IAH continued to “expand” to cover flying systemwide for 737 deliveries.

Later, and as 737 bases were established in previous LUAL hubs the flying has returned to a more rational equilibrium across the system. Low oil prices did not help yields (not the same as loads) in IAH.

On the macro scale the “stagnation” is really just things returning to normal. Back when things were going the other way, pilots in other domiciles were complaining about stagnation while IAH guys were partying inside the bubble.

Hopefully now that the situation has stabilized any movement will occur across all bases. The recent increase in oil can only help IAH.

Fairly senior at the moment but that will change over time. Never thought I would move out of Florida but Houston has turned out to be a pretty nice place to live. Have not de-iced in 3 years!

Derek

I was hired in 2013. Every class was 737 and 6 went to IAH 6 went to EWR. That really messed up the base and made it stagnant as others have pointed out. That said it took 20 months to get to iah but on the 756. It can be frustrating. The big gamble for you is which airplane to bid. 6 weeks after I was hired new hires held 320 in IAH ( I had an equipment freeze so I could not bid across to the 320 only up to 756,77,787,747). It seems that the 737 is the best way to get to IAH today but things change quickly. My guess is the other option is southwest. I will say if you have more than 20 years while you might have to commute at first. It will be short lived and then you get options. 737,320,756,787,777. If all you care about is flying out of Houston and fast as possible then the other option is probably a good one because you will get there quicker ( as it stands today instead of this time next year). Good luck. Pm if you have more questions

PM and I can get you more details. ‘16 new hire - activated via vacancy bid for IAH in early ‘17. 737FO. Can get your numbers on what the progression has been.

Being on property at UA will make you 10 times more hire-able at SW, DL, AA. Man, it really sucks to be Petty Crap.

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