If by QOL you mean more time at home...yes. We have quite a few new hires (mostly the younger ones) who have bought houses, condos, and crash pads local. My experience is the pilots that live local are home more if they want to be. When we are busy all bets are off and everyone is working. Also with the extra aircraft we have been told we are getting and rumors of additional European flying, it will be busy this summer leading up to peak. I tell the new hires to live in domicile if you can ...you rob a day here and there. Alot of pilots that could hold a line bid reserve for that very reason. Jumpseating on DHL or AZ gives you contract protection as does the rest of the commute policy so it's not really stressful but..there is nothing like driving to work.

My public service announcement for the day:

Based on the May 2021 CVG Bid Pack, here are some numbers for prospective ABX pilots to digest:

There are 102 Captains and 99 FO's eligible to bid listed (medical leaves, etc apparently not counted).

DOH"S for most junior Captain, 50% Captain, 50% FO, most junior FO: Sept. 1998, Sept. 1994, Mar. 2018, Jul. 2020, resp.

Of the 99 FO's, 17 of them are legacy (2000 and earlier hires), 10 of which are senior to the most junior Captain. I know some of them are hardcore lifestyle bidders.

Hth, you're welcome.

Honestly thank you for this.
I got an email to interview, and I'm a pretty senior regional FO finally looking at a potential upgrade this year and I'm super on the rocks of whether to switch over. I live in CVG but this is a serious drawback. Are they even hiring at interviews?- or could I just interview and wait for an offer and see where I'm at with upgrading?

Thanks so much for this honestly. I got an email for an interview invite, and now I'm not so sure. I live in base, but I'm a senior regional FO looking at an upgrade this year potentially and the stagnant movement at ABX has me worried about a future. Is there any place to find reserve rules and QOL on here or elsewhere on the internet?-not having much luck

"QOL" is highly subjective.


If you're like my friends who fly for the people-haulers and think that a four-day trip is long, then yes, you're going to prefer to live near CVG because it might be possible to get an extra day or two at home during the month - more if you're on reserve and bid "not fly". There are so many "not fly" bidders, though, that you'll probably be just as busy as anyone else until you're far enough up the list that have sufficient "not fly" bidders below you that they can cycle through before they get to you.


There are a number of us who commute from the west coast. I prefer to keep my commute trips to a minimum, so I mostly bid the single blocks. 16 or 17 days is a long haul, and I'm ready to go home by the end, but I and my family really enjoy that I'm frequently home for two weeks or more at a time, and I'm not having to unpack one day when I get home and repack right away to leave again a few days later. When I have vacation, I bid so that I get a solid 4 to 5 weeks off. I like the Q of my L just fine.

Thanks for the advise!

Off this numbers; What's the approx. DOH of the most Junior line holders?

And with all this said....we have just last week been told about increased hiring, upgrades and some additional aircraft. We will have 22 yr Captain upgrades with 5 yr in the same class. After that the average will 5 yrs or less.

It's a lot of movement after many yrs without hiring.

Just signed the new contract in Jan after 7 yrs and a strike....

Should be a waterfall of retirements in the next few years if I remember? Could be a decent time to get on if so inclined.