I have seen ~7 to 10 business days. Mine was 7 days after CJO for a class 5 weeks out.
A lot earlier class date than was forecasted but forever grateful as well.


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Cool thanks ! Enough time get things done at home before training !

36
6200 TT
​​​​​1400 TPIC
Corporate/135, Regional, ACMI, 6 type ratings

36, 6300ish TT, 3 types, regional furloughee, current heavy ACMI, about 150 TPIC. College grad 3.7 GPA.

Congrats to everyone but don't identify yourselves through your credentials. You are on probation for your first year here and the company can and will figure out who you are if you accidentally post something you shouldn't down the line.

For anyone curious currrent timelines
 

Not gonna put my info, Had my app in for >2 years.

From Hogan invite to Class Date: 14.5 weeks

Hogan invite to interview invite: 2 weeks
Interview 3.5 weeks later
Interview to CJO: 9 days
CJO to class date offer: 17 days
CJO to Class Date: 7.5 weeks

Does anyone know how long it is taking for new hires to get DEN from DOH?

After the CJO, how long it took them to assign you a class date ? Thanks

15 days after CJO email was the class date email

Has United announced what's the hiring plan after Oct 26th?
Also, are the retirement numbers listed on the page here accurate or do they have to be updated after all the Covid early retirements?
Thanks everyone

People on the forum were saying that class dates were going out for Oct; however our internal site only shows BI dates through the end of Sep, so it's anyone's guess. I haven't seen the retirement numbers posted here, but the early retirements aren't really retirements, per se. Those that took the option, are still employees until they hit mandatory retirement. There are 222 people hitting mandatory retirement with a year from today.

Sept 7 drop

737
EWR - 12
SFO - 7
LAX - 10

320
DCA - 5
EWR - 4
SFO - 1

756
SFO - 1
DCA - 1
LAX - 1
EWR - 1

I have my interview towards the end of October, that's why I was curious to know if there's a hiring plan after that date.
Also I'd be curious to know if there's a way to find out how many of those 222 (and all the retirements coming up in the next 5 years) are people who took the early out option. Cause they show as coming up retirements, but they are practically already gone.

Yes, you can figure it out. The 222 number was from united seniority.com, so I guess it takes into account P-VSL in that number. Looking at our seniority list directly, though, in the next 5 years from today, 1905 people will hit mandatory retirement age that are not on P-VSL. There are also 683 people currently on P-VSL that will be fully retired.

Hello all, How are the trips for the 756 for a new hire pilot? In LAX specifically, how long do you guess to hold a line?

Thank you very much!

Congratulations!

In the past I remember seeing a table of the most junior pilot on each type in each UA base. I believe it was accessed from a website.

I’m not a UA pilot so I don’t think I would be able to access whatever site it’s from, but was curious if anyone could share the most recent base seniority numbers. I’m curious how things look after the 2020 buyouts and retirements.

LAX based trips are mostly domestic transcons to IAD/JFK/EWR with an occasional KOA. Base is just reopening so it is impossible to answer the second question.

Assuming LAX, not as good as the 737 trips.

Longer than it would on the 737 / 320.

Vacation
 

How many weeks vacation does one start with? Is it possible to get two three week breaks per year or two four week breaks?

What is the progression?

Thank you.

Not possible. You earn vacation then get to use it the following vacation year and you can't "bank" vacation for use in future years. 14 days for the first 4 years and 21 days for 5-10 etc. These are bid in 1-2 week blocks. A junior pilot in a category will be able to successfully bid a 1 week vacation block in Feb or Oct. If you bid a junior category like SFO/EWR 737 then you might get a summer vacation after a few years. Holidays will always be held by the super senior in category.

You can bid all of your vacation in 1 block if you like, and you have the seniority. Of course you need to have 5 years longevity for three weeks of vacation. And you can extend your actual vacation with days off. For instance, bid the last week of a bid period off. Then bid a week of vacation at the beginning of the next bid period then some days off. This takes some seniority of course, but it is possible to turn one week of vacation into roughly 3 weeks off. I’ve done it.

Any SFO 737 or Bus drivers care to chime in? Starting BI very soon. From reading this thread I've gathered 737 provides the most "opportunity" in nearly any domicile. I will not be commuting, QOL is top priority, and don't really care what I fly. Easy answer is to bid for something I'm already typed in (320), but am looking for some feedback from guys/gals on property that may provide a different perspective. Thanks for the help!

Everybody’s situation is different, but if you want QOL and you’re gonna live here, SFO737 easy. Was bidding like 35% before Covid at 3 years here, (back to bidding 30% for October), will start upgrade next month. Also keeping in mind that this is a $hit place to commute to, that inflates your seniority even more, because commuters typically only look for commutable stuff. You won’t be bound to that. Same for the premium stuff, something like 75% of this base is commuters, they won’t be picking it up. PM if you have more specific questions.

All good info, appreciate the reply. Congrats on the upgrade, that's a lot quicker than I was expecting.

The SFO 737 does a fair amount of Hawaii flying.
I much preferred my 30 months on the SFO 737 than the 12 months I did on the SFO 757 (you'll never see a 767).
I'd have liked to try the Airbus, but I didn't want to wait 2 additional years to move to something larger than the 737.
YMMV.

How do you manage to survive living in SFO until upgrading? I get the 401k savings, but after taxes and soaring costs from property to transportation…how much extra can be saved while still living reasonably?

What is an average credit hour month? Can you credit 100h and still get 15d off? Is the norm 4x4d trips?

Commuting equally seems less than ideal, and I’m truly trying to visualise what life will be like. All honest opinions and previous experiences welcome. Every place I turn has my eyes looking like 😳.

When I consider the other options of EWR or LAX as a new hire, I feel equally terrified. My family lives in the west so SFO/LAX make the most sense from that perspective.

How do you see DEN? What longevity does the junior CN hold? How many years as an FO until it doesn’t feel like you’re struggling?

I only have 10-15y until retirement and that definitely is an important consideration. Would you leave a 250-300k/yr job to start from the bottom at UA with this timeline?

Thank you for all advice. Trying to make important life decisions to get closer to family and honestly worried about costs despite what once would have been a great salary.

thats a lot of questions. My question is “10-15y to retirement”. What? Your time to retirement is knowable to the day

and leaving a $250-300k job for United isn’t a profitable financial move

as for living in SFO … very few do, even fewer without an asterisk. Inherited house, spouse job, pension, whatever

Some people plan retirement based on a $ number not days to 65th birthday.

Any future classes dates after October ?

If you are making 250-300k/year somewhere else, unless it is in a different line of work that you hate or we are in a domicile that improves your quality of life, there would be no reason to come work here with a 10-15 year horizon financially.

It’s really dependent on your housing costs. I bought at the bottom of the market about 10 years ago, but the market is pretty hot right now, especially outside of the city. I don’t think it’s a good time to buy, but rents in the city have come down a bit. They are still high compared to most places, but lower than they were two years ago. To me the higher cost of living is easily offset by the quality of life gained by living in base. I can bid WB and bid reserve and rarely get used, giving me weeks at a time at home. I don’t worry about SC since I am less than an hour from the airport. If you can stand renting a place for a couple of years and see what the market does, you may be able to get something at a better price than you could right now.

How commutable are the lines in SFO for 737 or a320?

I'm trying to figure out if it's even a viable option to commute from somewhere in the PNW to SFO as that's where I'd prefer to live...

all depends on seniority. There is a significant percentage of sfo pilots that commute to sea or pdx. They all want the same thing….commutable schedules and the Jumpseat home.

Wondering the same. Do they normally run classes during holiday weeks?

you answered your own question with already being typed

Based on what the plethora of SEA commuters have told me, I wouldn't commute from there.

though for the delta in cost of living, you could buy a lot of tickets. Something to be said for just planning $10k/yr and becoming a high level FF

Put the tickets on a United miles credit card and get mileage points too. I flew with a captain several years ago that bought tickets frequently. He just considered that the cost of living where he wanted to live because he wouldn’t be happy in any of our bases or living anywhere but in the middle of BFE. I occasionally buy tickets, my bidding options are restricted, and I miss out on premium trips because of where I live, but I consider that money well spent. The name of the game is being happy on your days off.

Any word on today's class drop?

I have a few friends with interviews in late October and early November. So I assume more classes will be announced soon... Take it for what’s it’s worth.