The drop/trade scenario at United really varies by base/seat/aircraft. There’s enough inherent complexity in the system that you can exploit a lot of nooks and crannies in ways a ULCC pilot cant

But 12 years to go… stay ulcc. You’re not gonna beat that captain money with 1-2 years lost.

 

You never mentioned how many years you have at Spirit, which also matters. You may never be never be able to get the same relative seniority in 12 years, if you've been there for years. If you have already been there for several years and wouldn't mind being a NBFO for the rest of your career, it certainly doesn't make sense to me why you would go anywhere else as the pay isn't going to be different enough to change your life and may actually move you backwards on long term QoL.

To answer your question, though, seniority, like pretty much everything company drives what you can do with your schedule. Bid min credit and a schedule that will get bought off as an FO for OE, just to replace it with premium pay, essentially making 300% on your time at work... seniority. Vacation you want... seniority. Days off you want... seniority. Trades you want to either drop, trade into a lowers schedule, etc... seniority. As Brickfire said, your ability to do all of that depends what fleet, month, whether it is a dry summer in Borneo, etc. Too many variables to predict how well you can execute everything, but it is all seniority driven.

 

yeah i mean the goal at the moment is 12 but theres potential for 22 if i really wanted to work till 65 ( i do not )
also I doubt a captain upgrade over here is on the cards anytime soon especially past merger..

again though back to the main point. How much hiring left does everyone think United has in em for the next say 5 years. Where would that place someone. Is there any number how much they want to hire next year?
My relative seniority also is about to get blown up with integration to keep in mind assuming merger.

 

The plan today as communicated to us (grain of salt) is continuing the same pace of hiring (2K+/yr) for 5 years & beyond. There are myriad factors that could affect that outlook. Retirements in the next 5 years will be roughly 2500, or around 15% of the pilot group. The factor that makes it hardest to estimate where that would place you is that as (if) the pilot group continues to grow, your relative seniority would improve beyond that 15% retiring above you.

 

As a new hire Let's say I hypothetically bid for a320 in EWR. What kind of flying could I expect. Im sure there is a mix of 1,2,3,4, or even 5 day trips. I'm seeking more specific info: if you are EWR, would you ever see West Coast overnights, Mountain time zone or Canadian overnights? Could you be doing Hub and Spoke out of a domicile that is not EWR? or is it pretty much just in and out of EWR with multiple leg days. I Thank You kindly.

 

There aren't a lot of west coast overnights, even for the guys who are SFO/LAX based. Expect a lot of ORD and DEN turns with overnights in middle US.

 

NB trips max out at 4 days. Yes you can get west coast overnights. Typical EWR trips have a pass through EWR at some point if they are 3 or 4 days. LGA trips typically do not go back to LGA until the go home leg. Ask someone you know here to give you the bid awards for EWR 320 FO to get a sense of what the flying looks like. It’ll answer your questions much better than what you’ve asked as they’ll just spur more questions.

 

maxgumby.com

filler

 

Whats the difference between the highlighted blue area and none highlighted blue area? Or does it not matter?

 

United’s public plan at present involves

1) organic growth
2) regional to mainline growth
3) a comparatively small number of retirements

Where we are in the hiring wave really depends how #1 and #2 play out over 2025-2030

The real lottery winners were the 2019-2021 hires. But 2023 still looks solidly middle of the wave, have a strong career.