I met a ~26 year Airbus captain at the Doubletree the night before we bid at indoc. She was selling the Airbus pretty hard and I asked why she hadn't taken a widebody slot with that much seniority. She calmly and very seriously replied that United "doesn't have any widebodies for her to bid into".

 

A cult...🤣 too funny. I've been on it since 2017 and had have little to no regret. There was a period when the company was going to trash the fleet that I had entertained the 73 in IAH, but glad I stuck it out. I have small kids so another extended TK visit wasnt feasible for me if I could help it. Don't get me wrong the 73 flying is better, but the 321 fleet is about to stretch its legs. We are receiving the XLR this year plus another NEO variant with CFM (and additional center fuel tank). Nobody knows the missions of those planes, but could be pretty cool. I've also personally developed some good camaraderie with the senior CA that I enjoy flying with. A little detailed on this response, but must of I}us just simply like the people and workspace we have.

 

cut her some slack. She’s 25, she’s only flown a Cessna 172 and an Airbus

 

I think he means she’s been at United 25 years 🤣🤣

 

She may be too junior to hold wide-body captain. I’ve been here over 18 years and am still about 2,000 numbers away from holding widebody captain anywhere. And people hired at United 7 years before me are only a couple of hundred numbers senior to me. So a person hired at United in 2000/2001 (pretty close to 26 years) may not be able to hold widebody captain. I’m referring to 777/787 - if you mean 757, then by all means she can easily hold it in most bases.

 

you probably met a DEN CA and she is correct. If she doesn’t want to commute then United does not have WBs for her to bid into she needs about a decade more seniority to be a DEN 787CA

 

biggest plane she can hold is 756

 

Stock prices are based on forward earnings, and smart pilots bid depending on near-future missions of aircraft WITHIN the base that they want...

The missions and trip build of UA's narrowbody fleet currently varies depending on base AND is rapidly evolving:

Airbus:
319s and 320s on lower density, shorter, and regional replacement routes (fleet most rapidly being parked)
321 NEOs (PW) currently on high density domestic routes from mid-continent (ORD, DEN, and growing in IAH) hubs
321 NEOs (LEAP) replacing possibly west coast Hawaii and transcon 757s when they arrive (with its slightly increased fuel)
321 XLR becomes the 757 replacement eventually when a critical mass arrives

B737:
737s backbone of domestic fleet with domestic strongholds EWR, ORD, IAH, DEN serving destinations all throughout US, Canada, Latin America, Caribbean
737-800s taking up more and more of the formerly regional or 319/320 flying mid-continent as some 321s take over -900ER routes
EWR 737 has some of the best narrowbody trip builds, with ORD, IAH, DEN more legs/day on average

SFO and DC currently lean toward the 737 (3 to 1 ratio to Airbus staffing) with 737 having longer stage length, with Airbus on smaller and shorter routes

 

Certainly the 737 has a wider selection of flying but the constant touting of amazing layovers is just crap. I see the 73 in OMA, BOI, FSD, etc... The only people getting the "flamingo views" on their layovers are the top 10% or so. For a new-hire bidding in indoc, the layovers will be pretty much the same on either fleet until seniority builds.

Having flown multiple stints on both types (3 on the 737 and 2 on the 320), the 320 is by far much more comfortable. Sure, you might only be flying one leg a day on the 737 but who wants to sit in that thing for 7 hours from EWR to LAX? (I've done it and it sucks.)

 

This^^^. Look at the bid packets at a particular base and make your judgement from there. They are largely very similar.

The advantage the 737 has is largely the seniority and quantity. People just don’t want to leave the bus.