DEN
 

How long's it take for a new United FO to get DEN as a base these days?

Ballpark ~2years
Most junior pilot on latest JM table is 12508
Most junior Den pilot is 11898


Assuming we hire to cover attrition and no more or less.

Could go down a bit if Kirby grows Denver like he says he wants to.

Terminals are being extended and more gates are being added.

2-3 years :eek:

Took me 1.5 to get in, another year to get off reserve — although my seniority benefitted greatly from last group of TK instructors getting hired from above me in base. Wasn’t so bad, commuted to IAD and LAX before getting in.

I wish this question was asked here every other day. Mods, please just make it a sticky.

That said, it’s the most desireable in the company. If one doesn’t care about seniority and pay over a lifetime and values the locale...you can get there pretty quickly nowadays. Still...it’s probably a year or 2 today. Could change tomorrow.

Which is a better commute, (live in Den) DEN-SFO, or DEN-LAX on the Bus? Vis a vis covering 4 airports vs 2, crappy sfo weather/more flow usually, Crashpad availability, type of bus flying (redeyes) lax vs sfo, overall general quality of life...etc
Thx in advance

Also might as well ask how long to get DEN on the 73 and bus as of the last award?

LAX hands down......DEN-SFO stinks unless you are very senior. Flying is better in SFO across all fleets, but the abysmal commute negates that benefit. My $.02 as a 1999 hire (not senior enough for the DEN-SFO commute, but still do it anyway).

Not senior enough in terms of being able to get the Jumpseat because of all the widebody guys commuting? Would it be worth commuting to EWR just to get out of sfo ASAP?

Also LAX very rarely sees flow delays which are very common in SFO

Yes......20 years doesn't get you much as far as competing for the jumpseat. If we get a 787 base, which might just happen, that may change the dynamics. If you're considering going east, the time change doesn't help at all. The earliest flight doesn't get in until around 1pm in either IAD or EWR, that can also make commuting challenging. Also, EWR has it's own flow issues like SFO. LAX is the most decent option from DEN currently.

Thanks for the insight. Where is the best location to get a crashpad in LAX? And what’s the time to hold denver as of the last award? 1.5 yrs trending toward 1 yr or trending toward 2 yrs?

I’m October 2015 hire and I was awarded Denver March 2017. So roughly 1.5 years for me. Going rate is about 2 years. I think that will drop as hiring, retirements, growth, gate expansion happens at DEN.

Any ideas yet if the expansion in den will be mostly on the 73 or bus?

Prob a mix of both; the gates are a great sign, however we still don’t know how much DEN based pilots will be flying the increase in daily departures out of Denver.

Historically management has kept Denver pretty lean. I’m hoping this changes as demand/profits has surged.

who is taking bets on a DEN 787 base?

It will become the most senior category at United!

Um, who said expansion will be mainline?

Kirby modus operandi is to expand RJ service.

I’m half being a smart arse, but this would be par for the course under this new regime...

11 new B gates will be mainline; 5 of them will be RJ gates (so we’ve been told)

Anyone have thoughts how a DEN-ORD commute would be vs a DEN-SFO?

Had a 777 jumpseater going from DEN-ORD. He said it was much easier than SFO.

I don’t know first hand but I’ve heard both commutes are super senior

my money is on an announcement this week

Anything hub to hub is, from what I’ve seen, a bad commute. Anything DEN to a hub is even worse. Two words, positive space. :cool:

I’ll take that bet! No friggin way IMHO. But I hope I’m wrong. ;)

Careful...he did not specify what the announcement was about.

A third seasonal 787 DEN international departure is coming soon. 787 DEN base not anytime soon. That’s my 100 matchstick bet.

I agree if LHR goes full time then a base will be opened

LHR full time and a third destination is my guess. Double or nothing by the end of 2018?

Pretty sure FRA is already a given and I doubt the base would open this year. I’m betting first 3 month of 2019.

Not convinced on FRA. MUC perhaps.

Hopefully you're right on 2019....but seen hope fizzle far too many times to get excited.

luftansa already operates those two cities, why not some other city to help grow the hub

How is reserve on the bus and 73 in Den? Is it a good deal that goes senior due to not much flying?

Summer flying on reserve is really tough even if you live in base. All other seasons I feel like it’s a piece of cake.(737 DEN FO)

Ok fantastic! Could you speculate as to the number of days of flying in the summer vs the rest of the year? I know it is always in flux but just curious.

So you get 12-13 days off a month minimum on reserve. During summer peak season you will fly almost every day you are on call.

Non summer months one can expect 18ish days off a month. That figure is of course mandatory days off plus unused long call reserve and unused short call reserve. This is also under the assumption that you live in base. Some months I’ve spent almost 21 days at home other months as little as 16 days off at home (non peak months)

Bidding a line during summer months is def the way to go to cut down on stress and fatigue.

Awesome insight! Thanks!

In non summer months, how many days would you say you would have long call vs short?
What percentage of the long call days do you get used? Just trying to determine if i will be able to sit long call reserve from Seattle (737 SFO base) and not get used.

Generally, in my experience, summer or not, you will be assigned SC or FSB about 95% of the time. In other words, under the current contract, don't plan on sitting LC on any NB fleet.

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Big ****ing contest now for over a year. I am 737 have not sat long call since Sep 17. A new VP of scheduling came in then. United said we want to protect the operation. So everyone is converted to short call or field standby. Even on your last day off they are playing games. Placing field standby 6pm to 10pm knowing full well they can't use you past midnight. Legal yes!

Until this is fixed in the next contract you can forget long call on the NB fleets IMHO.