Originally Posted by Cruz5350

I had to sit myself down and think long and hard about up my Delta bennies.... The reality is this airline will never be staffed to the point where you can get any appreciable amount of time off to use your Delta bennies. I like Delta for their amazing international travel but the truth is you can't really go and enjoy Europe or Asia if you only have a stretch of 4 days off. Heck I jump for joy when I see 4 days off since it means I can rest, the last thing I want to do is fly over to Europe and rush around trying to sight see. I'm sure once you get senior enough you can hold more days off consistently but even guys senior here are getting slammed. It's a null point tho like you said if you live in Chicago you can use UAL.

I'm not sure what's worse reserve 175 or 11-12 days off 90+ hours of block and 60-70 legs of 200 flying lol cause that's about what I do every month.

Originally Posted by Cruz5350

Now that I'm on a computer and can type more clearly let me explain why I think it's still beneficial to take the 175 even if it means reserve. I've been here just shy of a year and I'm currently ORD based on the CRJ so all my opinions will be coming from that viewpoint. I've enjoyed my time here quite a bit and love the guys I fly with. I've decided to transition to the 175 and here's why:

1. Engines under the wing are way cooler and every major loves pilots who fly them.
2. On a more serious note my seniority in base has gone backwards as BRO transitions move into ORD while they most likely wait for a Cali base. Whereas I'll move up a good amount on the 175 side. (the difference in trips by being 10% higher or lower in seniority is negligible if at all even noticeable. )
3. Being a new hire on the CRJ and not on reserve will not net you any consistency in being able to fly the 7/9. I prefer those planes due to the leg lengths and the number of legs in a day/pairing. It's less work no matter how you look at it. The 175 is similar in that you won't be doing a 6 leg day where you go back and forth to MKE 3 times in a day like I just did.
4. The 175 has less local pairings and more 4 days whereas the CRJ at my level is mostly locals. This all varies due to whatever is handed to us by mainline in a given month, but locals especially good paying ones will go more senior. On the 175 it's meant to do longer stage lengths so a 2 leg local even a crappy paying one will be equivalent to a 4 legger on the 200. I don't remember seeing any min day guarantee 175 locals but if there is it's much less tiring than a 4 leg 200 pairing that sends you ORD-FWA and ORD-MBS etc. etc.

To me this all boils down to how much am I going to get paid and how hard will I have to work for it. Even on reserve in the 175 you wont be getting worked the same way as you will on the CRJ. Heck there is guys who can hold a line on the CRJ who purposely bid reserve because of how inefficient our pairings have been lately. What would you rather get called in to work a 175 ORD-MSP turn or 200 FWA and maybe a MKG with some ready afterwards?

It's all a matter of opinion but to me a Chicago based guy who lives close to the airport it's a no brainer. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask or shoot me a PM and I'll do my best. Either way you're at a good company and have an awesome pilot group so you won't be disappointed.

Originally Posted by spaaks

It's called a sick-cation :-) or a platinum day as you guys call it, right?

Originally Posted by FaceBiter

The way I see it is we get about 8.9 platinum days per year right now and slowly rising.

Originally Posted by sunsetchaser

I was just told by Skywest I can't get in the 22 Jan or 5 Feb class, and they don't know about the 19 Feb class.

UTW - Under the Weather???

Why do you say "the people hired into the 175 over the last few months are about to feel the pain"?

Originally Posted by xdshx22

That's interesting. I accepted the earliest class date I could, which was the Jan 22 E175 class (E175 is also my airplane preference). Yesterday I was told the Jan 22 class was canceled, so now I am going to SLC on Jan 26 for indoc with the CRJ class, then to DEN for the rest of E175 ground training on Feb 5, and as of right now I'm the only new hire in that class. Maybe its filled with transitions? Either way I'm excited to get started on this next step for me. Hope you get a firm class assignment soon!

Originally Posted by FaceBiter

Transitioning at even a year seniority and getting the aircraft as a newhire are two different things. You'll be OK because of the bottom 30-40 newhires (or however many it has been) will be a cushion from the true suck.

The 175 will only continue to get more and more senior, today is the best seniority those guys will see for awhile. Compared to the RJ with 50+ newbs, 30-40 pilots leaving and 36 upgrades a month. Passing up 2-3 classes/months of this just to fly the 175 is a dumb move.

Originally Posted by xdshx22

That's interesting. I accepted the earliest class date I could, which was the Jan 22 E175 class (E175 is also my airplane preference). Yesterday I was told the Jan 22 class was canceled, so now I am going to SLC on Jan 26 for indoc with the CRJ class, then to DEN for the rest of E175 ground training on Feb 5, and as of right now I'm the only new hire in that class. Maybe its filled with transitions? Either way I'm excited to get started on this next step for me. Hope you get a firm class assignment soon!

Originally Posted by sunsetchaser

Your lucky you got in! Since I am unemployed (just retired from AF)

Originally Posted by sunsetchaser

Your lucky you got in! Since I am unemployed (just retired from AF) and I had no way of knowing how late my E175 class would get pushed, I took a Jan 26th CRJ class. New hires get lower priority than transitioning folks when filling classes.