The answer depends on the order books and deliveries.

first there is no DEC you will be an FO, currently for a year and off probation, once reserve rules are implemented 350 hours. So United is currently placing CAs for summer of 2025.

If they decide that they are no longer taking the MAX 10 and MAX deliveries slow to a point that they decide they will have enough CAs for summer 2025 they will stop offering.

Same goes for A321, if orders pick up through 2025 they may offer on the bus instead. However, the bus tends to get filled on vacancy bids.

When August rolls around and ALL the new reserve rules are implemented reserve will become a lot less painful and will become quite lucrative this may attract current pilots and if it attracts enough then they may stop giving CA bids to New hires.

all this to say who knows.

 

Don't forget 100 hours of OE. That alone would be enough to dissuade me from going that route and waiting till I met the mins and do a normal OE.

 

The last few vacancy bids have had ~150 open CA vacancies they pass down to new hire classes. Short of the industry and the 8 ball imploding, it's a very safe bet that they aren't going away anytime soon.

 

100 hours of OE means they cant touch you on reserve, just more time to gain seniority.

 

Agreed!

In Unity...

 

honestly, our LCPs are great. 100 hours of IOE sounds awesome. Positive space if you’re a commuter. You get to learn a lot of good stuff along the way. They don’t have to cram 12 pages of talking into three flights. And, as mentioned, it’s another couple months of seniority and essentially having a line. And you’re getting captain pay, so who cares?

 

I agree
we have the best training department indeed

 

Having a line???
Not even close.

 

I mean while you’re on IOE. No, you don’t have a line, but it’s better than the uncertainty of reserve.

 

I find IOE to be even less certain than reserve. On reserve you have days on and days off, and you can see what trips are open, you know how many days you are good for, etc. On IOE you are constantly just waiting for the phone to ring. Might be a day trip, might be a 6 day trip (including travel). Your callout times are better on IOE. I’ll give you that.
Depending on how you look at it, it could be slightly better than reserve, but it’s no where NEAR the certainty of a line.