With the chance of making $174/hr (2nd yr 777 FO pay according to APC), and $174 being Delta 767-300 4th yr pay, or ballpark 6th year narrowbody pay) i'd argue that United would now be the place to be over Delta because of the movement opportunities/ability to get to a higher paying seat quicker

It just depends if the only goal is $$$.

There's an entire cadre of regional pilots waiting in the wings that totally understand seniority. A new-hire 777 FO will be junior forever. Ditto a 4-year CA. That will work for some, but not for others depending upon circumstances.

There's no free lunch on a seniority list and if a new-hire gets 777 the first year it means nearly 13,000 other pilots passed on the opportunity.

Spitballing here, but no one knows when the next downturn will be, are the junior wide body FO’s positioning themselves for a higher pay rate at min guarantee to weather the storm of the next downturn? Hoping for no displacement bids (and just retirements attrition), to just sit there at the bottom on rsv and collect their monthly guarantee. You’d make almost $40k more per year collecting min guarantee as a 777 FO vs a narrow body FO. Could pay off big time getting “stuck” in a 777FO seat vs narrow body FO seat

Think years of global reserve.

Yeah, I bring it up to get multiple perspectives. #1 as I said before, it’s not even an option at AA or DL...
Is the pain of sitting global reserve worth the extra $40k/yr you’d make? In good times like now vs in the next downturn where there’s nothing but attrition (no vacancy bids)?

I can’t be the only one wondering If delta might not be the top dog anymore. Fly a A220 or 717 for $136-160/hr for the first 6 years or have the opportunity to move up to a much higher paying widebody seat much sooner at united (I know that difference has always been there, but the disparity seems much bigger now that sub 2yr widebody FO at United is a reality). I don’t think you can even hold the 757 in 2 years at delta?

This is why it's cool to have options. I can think of many people who would hate life if they were commuting to global rsv.

One straw man is a 40-something who's been slogging it in the regional trenches for a long time, commuting and now has young kids and finally at UAL w/ reasonable pay/qol as a narrow body pilot. Ditch that to commute to SFO or EWR for global rsv? Not a chance for some.

Another is a relatively senior narrow body pilot who hits Hawaii, the Caribbean, AK or whatever their pleasure, can pick up premium pay trip when desired, gets the vacations they want and likely most weekends off. That theoretical $40k difference goes completely out the window for them when you compare baseline rsv to the ability to hit 100+ credit hours when desired.

Lots of ways to skin a cat but hitching a ride at the bottom of a WB list ain't for everyone.

Exactly my point, Seems to me that the only thing you get to choose from at DL is which narrow body you want to fly... at least for a long time

Let’s say you’re a regional guy and would commute for UA and DL, which one do you choose right now? Taking in to account that DL has done a lot of their hiring in the last 2 yrs already

Long term career progression, right now, I think UA is the play over DL. I don’t think DL will ever be able to get that JV/scope work back in the can.

You didn't answer my question and it would seem from your comments you don't work for UAL nor do you have access to the contract or man power information. So I guess you just want to write about pilot stuff.

Do you fly airplanes as a professional pilot?

If you’re chasing the money/big jets, then FedEx is your better bet at 178/hr on all but one seat your 2nd year. On the 757, you can be captain around 12 months on property making 243/hr. Widebody Captain is running 3.5 years (288/hr). Fastest movement, earliest high pay rate.

- Not exactly.... but on paper, yes they have 1 year 757 CA. Training letter is still not complete from the 2016 bid. And then ask yourself, why is the 757 so junior? (Not an enjoyable experience - although I didn’t fly it while I was there)
I imagine we’ll have folks on second year pay actually in the left seat of our narrow body aircraft here in the up coming vacancies. (Not a pleasant experience either, I would think. But for different reasons)
ie. career short call reserve

But as others have said, it’s great to have options and to each their own. Very exciting times!