Hey, I live in CLE and they have been offering CLE 737 in the most recent class drops. Given how senior CLE has been anyone know how long it would take to hold a line in CLE.

Trying to decide if I should commute to a line in EWR or if I should hold out for a line in CLE.


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Today’s new hire class (Jan 18th, 2022) is 72 pilots. They are being offered FO on everything we fly. 737, Airbus, 757/767, 777 and 787 FO in almost every base. Congrats!

Do not pass up a CLE bid. Reserve in base > commute to a line. Plus who knows how long CLE lasts.

do not commute - even if it means reserve

you can always trade out of CLE later on if you like to. Odds are you will not be able to trade into CLE.

Pure conjecture here, but my crystal ball tells me they will continue to grow CLE a bit as a pilot base.
They know, at this point, that they can’t fill NB CA slots at EWR. If they offer 15 more slots in CLE, they’ll have more than enough takers. The good news for junior CLE FOs is that all those new CLE CAs will (mostly) come from the top of the CLE FO list.
Same goes for DEN and IAH, but those bases are more complicated by having multiple fleets.
CLE is likely pretty straightforward to predict.

If it were me, sitting reserve at home in CLE is much less headache than commuting. Even short call at home is pretty tolerable instead of waiting on wheel up times trying to get to EWR.

I’ve read back about a month and haven’t seen a whole lot of references to IAH. I was wondering what that bases looks like seniority wise? Sounds like all fleet types are there?

Lowest cost of living in base = highest seniority level at every level

Junior lineholder is a mid 2019 hire as of this date in IAH. New hires can usually hold a line within a month or two of finishing training in SFO/EWR.

What is the reserve time for a new hire on the 756 fleet in EWR?

My daughter was hired in Dec of 2019, and can’t hold a line in EWR. She’s in and out fo of a line at DCA.

dec ‘19 is probably a near worst case “time to X” given how few people have hit the line since then.

No way to know but it’s clear that TK isn’t interested in filling the unfilled vacancies for 756 FO EWR. Thus, I would estimate 2-3 years. Best to plan on serving your seat lock (2yrs) on reserve because currently the junior line holder is late 2018 hire. People on reserve can hold 737/320 Captain but can’t hold a line at 756 EWR to put it another way.

cle is the perfect size for training a regional group. Examples: Hawaii and Atlantic ops. Originated in the cle base. The azores will be flown by cle first.

I’ve heard that some junior new hires are getting “must fill” into the 777, is that common?


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about 3 WB per class… think it will be the norm until hiring slows.

Where is this exactly??

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I hope this isn’t just hiding in plain sight and I’ve missed it, but does anybody have the chart that shows the junior CA/FO for each fleet/domicile? I know just about everything’s open to new hire FOs - mainly trying to find out the CA plugs.

I commuted CLE-EWR for four years (a long time ago) and sitting bottom reserve in CLE was WAY better than commuting to a line in EWR, no question.

It’s found in flying together/ ccs by bid awards, junior man report. Currently after probation you could probably hold captain in the coastal junior based. Subject to change!

Is this anywhere on here? I'm still on the outside looking in.

No, nor will you find it. The company frowns on posting company data on social media. I find that document to be only mildly helpful. Oh look, I can go to this base in this seat. But do I really want to? 787 bases come to mind.👎🏻

Yeah that data is more interesting. But these days it’s so crazy the numbers don’t tell much. Again, oh cool, but do I want to do that? Luckily some do or we’d really be hurting for Captains. :cool:

Checkout the United profile within APC. It has bases, number of aircraft, pay scales, and a remotely close indication of the most junior CA aircraft type and base (like it says SFO 737 march 2015 hire). In 2019, the junior upgrades were going to SFO and EWR, and approaching the 2yr FOs. In more desirable bases, upgrade on the 73 was more like 7~15yrs. In IAH, you might finish a career before upgrading into anything for example. If LAX ever recovers from COVID, that might be a nice trade off for a junior pilot to upgrade before turning completely grey. However, don't be discouraged because this could all change either way in the blink of an eye, or launch of a hyper sonic missile.

Any SEA-SFO commuters here? How's the QOL?

Obviously prevailing wisdom would say that reserve in base > commute to line, but given where I'm currently employed (SEA-based and living, if that's any indicator) and the associated reserve rules, I'd actually get a line quicker and have more time off with a SFO commute at UAL...

Commutes out of SEA can be tough. Might want to move or consider a different airline.
I've had the jumpseat full a decent percentage of the time.

Any idea when the company will put out a new vacancy bid? I can’t imagine they will continue with the new hires having access to everything straight out of class.

They can use the "unfilled" vacancies for new hires for up to 92 days after the award is posted.

So, the November vacancy awards are usable till mid Feb and the December vacancy awards are usable till mid Mar. So, they would have to put out a vacancy bid by the end of Feb in order to keep hiring past mid Mar.

With that being said, I am guessing it will be much earlier than that, like as early as this Friday.

Been doing it for years with no issues. A lot of people think it’s a bad commute and it is if you only use our metal. DL and AS each have a bunch of flights which mean about 15-20 flights a day to SFO from SEA. I mainly commute on AS and never have any issues. The other plus is that you are never on an RJ commuting between the two. Throw in OAK and SJC and you’re up to around 30 flights a day to the Bay Area daily. Pre-Covid it was about 50. PM me if you want more details, but really, it is a pretty nice commute overall.

Any guess on how it will look? Same type of vacancies or going back to new hires on the coasts

I just noticed today that the vacancy bidding screen is open again. On the flight ops town hall last week Zachary Shapiro (new Paul Carlson) said he was in the process of writing a new crew resources update, so it wouldn't surprise me to see another vacancy by this Friday or next.

I am guessing mid-continent hubs will get some more NB CAP openings, with maybe some on the coasts just so anybody who has changed their mind since the last bid can still bid to where the company really wants them. That would also mean FO opeinings in those same mid-continent locations to keep the Cap/FO balance. Prob some WB FO options on the coasts just to keep the unfilled vacancies available as we go forward and then a good amount of 756 and NB FO slots on the coasts as well.

So, prob not a bunch of movement for the top half of the seniority list, but great movement for somebody who just got hired.

so how many were in this week's class and what fleet/domicile mix did they get???

62. Everything from 787/777 FO to 756/Airbus/Guppy FO in almost every base, including new hires in Denver and Houston.

Nobody was forced into a base.

I did it for about a year and agree with this post. Don't ride on UAL metal and you will make the flight every time.

Is the 777/787 a combined fleet? Are they the same bidpack?

nope. Different fleets.

Any word on how many 777s and 787s this week? Figure they have to have a decent number going to those fleets in order to be able to train the total number we are hiring every week. Got to spread that number out over as many fleets as possible just to get the throughput.

Figure this week and next should be great weeks to get hired in the other fleets as there will likely be a vacancy bid posted that closes while these next two groups are still in Indoc. Prob be able to get a lateral awarded before they even start aircraft training.

One 787 and two 777 positions. The two most senior people in class chose 777 and 787. In the classes before it went most of the time junior.

787 has been going senior and 777 junior in most classes.

The 787 is more shiny ! 😂