Nice! Thanks for posting.

Welcome new hires!

Pro tip for the LAX bound: Great taco trucks between Sepulveda Blvd and Sepulveda Expressway on Manchester (just west of the employee parking lot).

Just curious if anyone knows when the new hires interviewed? How long did they wait did this class??

I believe they were interviewed in April/May 2017

I could be wrong but I thought I heard some December interviews made it.

Anyone know if there were interviews from June-Nov? I've heard things shut down for a while and there should be a jump wrt to new hires filling future classes (whenever those might be...).

I believe the interviews stopped from Jun to Nov. I had a Dec 17 interview but had to resked to Feb of this year.

I was in a meeting in ORD this week and Scott Kirby came in the room and said he had just inked a deal with Easy Jet for 21 used Airbus 319’s. Howard Attarian said possibility 30 more. Over all we have 100 plus firm airplanes being delivered over the next 3 years with none being parked. I would say that is growth.

All management explained the hiring numbers being the way that they are because......

1. We have been a seasonal airline. We fly a ton in the summer and almost shutdown in Jan & Feb. we are going to level that out.

2. Parking the 747-400 was the equivalent of hiring a years worth of pilots at an aggressive rate. The Training center was unprepared for this and are just recovering now. The last of the 400 pilots are going through training now.

3. The 4-6% growth is ASM’s (available seat miles) not growth of airplanes or pilots. The growth number that we want to hear, airplanes and pilots equates to 2 1/2-3% at the max. The ASM growth will be achieved through flying our planes more. An example was given that there are 9 banks a day in ORD but only during 3 or 4 of the 9 banks are the gates completely occupied. They want to fill all the gaps and keep the airplanes moving not sitting. That does mean more pilots because of more flying.

4. United hasn’t hit the big retirement numbers just yet. Delta and American has. We are only retiring at the most 400 and maybe a few more on medical. We should start to see the hiring numbers pick up soon.

On the positive side... I did hear one management pilot say to expect 3 year Capts in the not too distant future based on our aircraft orders.

None of this is my opinion. I’m passing along what I heard from some of UAL’s top management.

Sounds like you fell for their usual BS. Some will never learn.

Edit: That came off the wrong way. Of course they're going to spread propaganda. They just need an audience. Especially going into Section 6.

Which part was the propaganda? The new 21 319’s from EasyJet sounded pretty good to me. 120-150 airplanes over the next 3 years sounds good as well. 😊

Learjet.
Thanks for taking the time to post this info. I think the last 2-3 years we have had a lot of excess slack in the system. Add in the 747 pilots and we were really over staffed. As we work through this slack I think hiring will pick up.

It always sounds good. It has consistently sounded better than the actual actions. Like them telling us every year that they would be hiring 1000 for the year only to consistently not even reach half of that. Do we have all the used Airbuses we were initially told we were going to get?

You say we're going to have over 100 new airplanes over the next three years without retiring any? Really? What clues do you see around here that backs that up? Is it all the hiring that we're forecast to do between April and December.....zero? Too many around here are hooked on words and turning a blind eye to what is actually going on around them. Even when they've seen it before. You've seen it before and should know better.

Let me guess.....were you fed this at the Charm School class last week? It seems to be a popular portal for these stories.

I agree. All of this SOUNDS great. I will get excited when I see them on our ramp in our paint with our pilots.:)

[QUOTE=89Pistons;2547669]Let me guess.....were you fed this at the Charm School class last week? It seems to be a popular portal for

Like my disclaimer said..... none of that was my opinion. I’m just repeating what I was told. I thought the news was better than a sharp poke in the eye but I guess you disagree.

You should be able to see right through the motivations of these types of info drops by now. Go and read yesterdays MEC update.

[QUOTE=Learjet driver;2547676]Thanks for the info Learjet. It’s hilarious how Debbie downer from SNL gets on here any time something positive is said.

[QUOTE=Half wing;2547736]Hey! I used a :) not a :(. :D

Try showing me where I'm wrong.

You're naive and gullible. Just how they like it.

If I recall, wasn't it ALPA that said we were hiring 1400 pilots this year. I could be wrong, but I don't recall a company notice of large hiring numbers.

Not that I dispute the notion that there seems to be a lot of talk and little action from the company.

Also, I haven't been able to make a town hall meeting or event where Oscar, Kirby, Attarian or anyone really important has talked. But does anyone ever bring up these things? It would be interesting to hear someone quote last year's claims and this year's reality.

ALPA doesn't do the hiring. The company relayed that info to the SSC and MEC just as they've been doing for the last few years. ALPA just passed it along.

New USED 319’s :D

I hope “inking a deal” has more merit than an imminent acquisition.

When was that, 6-7 months ago now?

John

FWIW in airbus fleet news for January they said we are getting 7 more used buses with options for 7 more. So although not the internet rumor of 40 from easyjet they are slowly acquiring more.

Maybe we’ll hear some news on the fleet on the 13th.

CHICAGO, March 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- United Airlines (UAL) will present at the 2018 J.P. Morgan Aviation, Transportation and Industrials Conference on Tuesday, March 13. Scott Kirby, president of United Airlines, will present at the conference beginning at 10:15 a.m. ET / 9:15 a.m. CT.

I know.........


I was making light of the announcement of the announcement made previous about 319's and 320's.

And sorry, I was off, it was almost exactly 5 months ago.

I have been an airline pilot for 15 years. No one here takes any of the company propaganda with anything more than a grain of salt. It’s amazing that you think people are dumb enough to take the company at its word. The truth usually lies somewhere between what the company says and what someone border-line suicidal, such as yourself, says. I think why you’re so unhappy is because when you were hired you naively and gulibly believed the company bs that you would be Captain in two years. Then you were furloughed and your life and career has been a steaming pile of dog **** for 15 of the last 17 years. So when you call someone naive and gullible, you are projecting. For anyone looking to come here, I apologize for this guy. He is in the small minority.

I think maybe I rode with you on the bus today to the DEN airport. Have you flown Gulf Streams as well?

Joe in NY

You continue to sadden me because your glass is "Half Full". We hired for the last 5 years, and we will continue hiring for the foreseeable future. There is a battle in HQ over whether our training should be seasonal or not. I can tell you that the training pilots do not "pick up" flying. They displace. The culture of seasonal training and hiring is slowly changing. Is this Nirvana? No. Is this the best that United Airlines has seen for pilots ever? Yes. Our order book for the next 5 years is HUGE, and management is telling you they want to "KICK BUTT", AND our leader is a people person. There has NEVER been a better time to be a United pilot, and if you can't enjoy the current situation then all I can say is "I am so sorry". Will this last? No. But, you need to learn to recognize and enjoy the "Good Times".

No need to apologize for me. I'm quite happy. And I've never been Naive or gullible. Nice try at deflecting though. This guy? If you want to know who I am I'll let you know so that you don't have to refer to me as "this guy." Got hired here 18 years ago and I'd only refer to 6 of it as a steaming pile.

I still invite you to show me where I was wrong. You managed to skip over that part.

Does the foreseeable future extend past this week? I ask because we have no more new hire classes scheduled for this year and the LSC update last week said we won't see one until November at the earliest, if any. What's your definition of foreseeable future?

My life? I get the career part but my life? I missed that the first time I read it. You don't know about my life. But if you want to comment on "my life" I can tell you about it if you're interested. Started out rough but great now. I'll fill in everything else in between for you over the phone or in person but please don't speak about my life. The career part I get. Your perceived opinion of my personality is within limits too although I think you'd realize that perception is wrong if we spoke. You don't know me well enough to make comments about my life though.

My apologies for crossing the line. Even though we have a different outlook we are still on the same team and hopefully pulling in the same direction.

I have no doubt. We are on the same team and pulling in the same direction.

For those who have been at United. Why do they interview and hire in January for classes in November? It seems to be more logical to have a much shorter lead time to class for all parties involved. Have they always done it this way? Thanks for the replies.

5 years.

Barring a major shift in global economics or a purchase of another airline, I believe United will hire every year for the next 5 years at a minimum, and they will hire no less than 400 pilots per year. It's not likely to be the "thousands" people want to hear about, but it's a far cry from what we were doing in the industry from 2001 to 2011 during the "lost decade".

They do it because there continues to be cultural arguments within mid-management at United, and "no" it wasn't always that way.

Although much of the company puts on a face of unity the truth is that within United there are different departments with different backgrounds. Man Power planning is driven by people with a belief in "seasonal" training and hiring, but the hiring department and training departments would prefer a steady stream all year round. The tension between the groups is increasing, and personally I do not think both preferences can survive. It is my hope that the "seasonal" preference is going to lose out, and United will return to a steady stream of monthly hiring and training instead of what we have right now.

Want to hear about?

That's the point. It's not that folks have wanted or praying to hear that we would be hiring a thousand or more. Folks have actually been told that every year for the last five years only for it to reach half that. Hence why I made the statement that it always "sounds" good but usually what we hear doesn't equate to what we actually see or get.

What we see and what we get carries more weight than what we're told. I never argued that 400 in a year was bad. I point out that it doesn't meet what they tell us.

The Over "1,000" new hires per year has been mentioned by management in the FOU's in the last couple years, none recently though.

We have averaged 481 New Hires per year since United started hiring again in NOV 2012.

We have averaged 722 pilots per year through INDOC in that same period with over 1200 Furloughs returning.

If you add in pilots on medical and MIL leave we are probably around 750.

If you look at yesterday and tomorrow the hiring numbers suck, but if you lift your head to look past your feet you will see that our numbers are pretty good considering we had 1400 pilots on furlough when we stared hiring. I just don't get why a few of you preach brim stone and fire.......

There are ebbs and flows with Hiring pools and wait times at most airlines. When I was hired at UAL in ‘15 I got the offer in July and was in class in Sept. At that time people at Delta were waiting approx a year or more from job offer to class date. Now the roles have reversed and in another year they could reverse again....

Who's preaching? I assume you're talking about me. I simply stated what the company has told us the hiring would be and what we actually ended up doing. All facts. What are you actually disputing? You don't like me pointing that out for some reason? It seems like you take it personally. It's not meant to be. Again, simply stating that what the company tells us sometimes doesn't come to fruition. I used the hiring stats over the last five years of as an example.

It's seems like you're trying to dispute what I'm saying not by challenging the statements but by making a separate point. I never said our hiring numbers haven't been good. I've been saying that they haven't met the numbers we've been told.

A little self conscious huh? Didn’t quote anyone specific. I read it here, I read it on the UAL forum, I here it in the CPO.......I’m just posting facts and saying 750 pilots per year is good enough in my book, flights are going on time and completion factor is at a record high, seems like hiring is doing a pretty damn good job. Carry on 89 :)