TLDR version : it’s good.

Last summer I looked hard at the seniority of all the bases when I was thinking of moving to a base. I didn’t just look at the plug numbers for each BES, but instead looked at where you’d sit as you gained seniority compared to what percentage you’d be in any seat. With the exception of the airbus, the seniority in IAD was actually one of the best in the system, and for some seniority groups is better than SFO or EWR (737 65% and lowerish). Plug numbers are a horrible predictor because they’re heavily skewed and vary based upon displacements, bid size, bid timing and now the effect of the 74 going away. If you got hired at the beginning of the last big hiring wave around 13-14, you’re going to see different results than guys getting hired today for timelines.

Houston was much worse than I expected, with many guys being bottom 50-60% in the 737 FO seat that could hold captain in a junior base. Not sure if it’s all the same now.

A very simple way of comparing seniority that’s better than using plug numbers and timelines, but quicker than doing a large math project, is to figure where you think you want to/will be in 5/10 years(use the Ual progression website as a guess if needed, pull up the ccs staffing report and see what you could hold and what % you’d be in each base you’re interested in)

Fwiw, I would have chosen DC as a base for the combination of seat options, good flying, lower cost of living, higher QOL through seniority progression, lots of variety of places to live within short call distance, access to jobs in case of a furlough, etc.

Just a quick point of information;

Per the UPA we have Categories not BES.

2-K Category is a Base, Equipment, and Status combination (e.g. ORD 756 F/O) to which a Pilot is assigned.

and the Washington Base is DCA not IAD

Keep in mind this was just my experience as a new hire a couple of years ago...YMMV. When I settled in as a new guy in the 73, I started a pretty quick climb up the seniority list. I had a friend who was hired a couple of weeks before me start on the Airbus and stagnated around 98% while I was as high as 65% in a similar amount of time. I'd say the QOL is pretty decent. I've been told that the flying is better on the 73 - better overnights and fewer legs per day on average. Don't get me wrong, we still have our fair share of redeyes and 3 duty period/2 day trips. (Those are the worst)

Anyway - shoot me a PM if you'd like to know more.

Good base. Couple of minor things to consider decision matrix:
You need to regularly cover 3 bases (if you are narrow body). 75 IAD, 15 BWI, 10% DCA. Don’t hold me to those percentages. That may affect where you want live if you move to the base. You can avoid BWI with good success if you live Wear/South of base if you are a line holder. Lots of guys who live in MD love BWI and eat up those trips.
The employee bus to the IAD ops is about 40 minutes. Walk to a bus stop, bus, walk through KCM to people mover, then 5min walk to ops.
If you believe management, they’ve read room for growth in the 737 at IAD. Right now there are only 3 banks. Seems most of them are the early bank. Lots of room to grow at the 1200 and 1700 bank for NB.
All antidotal observations.

Anyone have any insight into getting between IAD and DCA and the time frame required? Thanks!

Easily done on the Washington Express bus to the Wiehle-Reston Metro station. Costs around $9 total. It does take about 1.5 hrs to do it though.

As an example I got off a flight at DCA at 8am the other morning. Walked into the CPO at IAD at 9:50am.

If I’m on a tight schedule I Uber it for around $35. Still takes about an hour due to traffic.

I commuted LGA to IAD for 5 years. 90% of the time I flew to DCA then train and bus to IAD. Way more reliable then the IAD to LGA UAX flying. Was most definitely annoying, but super reliable.

From DCA there is an airport exit direct to the metro station a couple hundred meters away. You take the metro a couple stops and connect to I think the Yellow line (I forget now, but you'd see it there). Take that to the end where a bus leaves every 15 minutes direct to IAD. I also believe there is a metro line under construction that will eventually go direct to IAD.

Anyways, like I said LGA-DCA on Delta or AA then train to bus was, for me, WAY more reliable (and had hourly service) than LGA - IAD on UAX.

As a commuter I did this all the time. I found I could actually do the trip quicker on the metro because the bus still can be affected by traffic. From IAD get on the Silver Line Express Bus. $3 for employees have to buy a ticket at the desk. That drops you off at Whiele-Reston East. Take Silver Line to Rosslyn, then Blue Line to DCA. Same route in reverse but when you get on the Silver Line Express going to IAD, the driver will tell you to just buy a ticket once you get to IAD. If timing is good I’ve done it in as little as 1:10. Just be aware that the Metro doesn’t open very early or stay open late so make sure to check times. Download the DC Metro app and it will give you Travel Alerts if there are delays or track maintenance.

In regards to the OP... I was hired in Sept. 15. Did 1 month of Reserve on 737 before bidding to ORD. This was over the holidays and hardly flew but did quite a few short calls. Then came back to the DC base after being on the property for about 1.5 years. At that time DCA 737 FO gave me the best seniority in the whole system. In a couple months, around Summer 2017 I got as low as 45%. I recently transferred to DEN (No Commute). I had started to move backwards again but still had much better seniority in DCA then almost any other base. Was about 52% with 2 years 3 months seniority.... Also it seems that the DCA base on the 737 always had fairy low time lines. Even in the summer months I was doing around 74 hours with 16-17 days off. Compared to ORD when I was getting 85+ hours with 14 days off. Also not a lot of open time...

Thanks for the info guys! Considering a DCA bid, lots of flights from my city to dca and 4 to iad. Sounds like it may be a feasible option. Again, thanks for the info!