Originally Posted by Cozmo (Post 2490182)

Sorry if there's a FAQ somewhere. I couldn't find it.

I have been a commercial pilot for about 15 years, and lately I've been greatly encouraged to check out the airlines. I have 5,000+ hours, 4,000+ multi turbine, and I have a pretty good job that I'm nervous to leave despite the numerous potential benefits that a good airline job would provide. My caveats (below) pretty severely restrict my options, and United is really my first choice of those.

My caveats:

- I don't want to move
- I can't afford a huge year 1 pay cut ($85/hr is doable, $40/hr is not)

My questions:

- How bad is life with a long distance commute? Are crash pads really that bad? A big commute essentially adds 2 unpaid days to your work hitch, right?

- What determines what base you get initially? What factors influence that? Do I get any say at all? (EWR and SFO would be long trips for me, and if I understand correctly, that's where most new hires go.)

- How long can I expect to be at one of those bases, assuming I don't get the one I want?

- What is the pay for new hires during training, and how long is it?

- How does flying on reserve work? How many days are you on call? How far away can you be?

- What determines what equipment you are assigned to? Excepting pay differences, is life in any one plane significantly better or worse than life in another?

- I know what a 401k is, but what is A/B/C? Some kind of matching?

- I saw another thread recommending Emerald Coast for interview prep. Is it assumed that everyone does this at this point, and are you at a major disadvantage if you don't?

I know this was a lot, thanks for making it this far.

Originally Posted by deltajuliet (Post 2490502)

How long to hold ORD these days? Other threads suggested 6-12 months, but the previous post indicated years.

Originally Posted by Sunvox (Post 2491469)

There are 10 ORD narrow body FO vacancies in the latest bid. Be curious to see if any go unfilled. Could be :) If so that would mean new hires going to ORD. In the '90's most new hires were to ORD.

Originally Posted by sweptback (Post 2492039)

Pretty sure there was a vacancy a while ago that went unfilled, but probably expired because we didn’t have new hire classes at the time.

Originally Posted by Cozmo (Post 2492122)

Thanks everyone for the responses, I have some more questions that will be forthcoming, and I'm starting to get excited about this whole idea.

Originally Posted by MasterOfPuppets (Post 2490365)

Your questions have been answered with 1 correction. Your 401K is 16% it is not a match the company puts 16% in your 401K o top of your pay.

Originally Posted by John Carr (Post 2492188)

Getting the interview is going to be HARDEST PART.Also keep in mind, there’s still about 100 left in the pool from this year’s interviews from the spring.

Originally Posted by Dave Fitzgerald (Post 2492339)

I would be willing to bet a large part of those in the pool are already gone to other airlines. Why wait around for UAL to figure out what they want?