That snapshot had a guy less than 200 from the bottom going to SFO 777 FO. Out of a company with 13,000 pilots.

 

How bad must Junior life be on the 777 is the question that they should be asking.

 

I would wager it has more to do with the commute than the airplane.

 

I would wager it’s the commute plus a much longer time getting abused on reserve than one would find on the 737/320 or 756 for that matter.

 

... or that he/she doesn't want to lose their hearing on the 756.
I keed, I keed!

 

Valid point! Ear plugs can only do so much!

 

Truth be told the triple really isn't all that quiet either.

 

I can think of a couple of reasons why 777 SFO FO is going more junior:

1. Fedex pilot arrested in China for being an American
2. Reserve sucks
3. Commuting to reserve sucks more
4. Domestic hub to hub on the 777 means more AM departures which makes reserve suck more
5. Domestic hub to hub means less productive trips, so it's harder to break guarantee, which makes reserve suck more
6. Being released from your 11 AM short call at midnight so you can do the 10 AM short call on your last day of reserve - sucks the most
7. Last I heard, you could count on at least 4 short calls in a 6 day reserve stretch

The payrate looks awesome, but the lifestyle - not so much. I think that if you go to the 777 before you are a bottom line holder, your time on reserve will last much longer than you anticipate, because so many guys are just waiting for the line holder level to bid over above you.

If your house and your favorite golf course are within 2.5 hours of SFO, none of the above matters.

 

Great post. Point 1 is the only thing I’d say probably isn’t too relevant as it just happened and so many previous awards on this rig have gone very junior prior to any Chinese hostage taking. Still a valid concern though.

And to make a point about being on reserve much longer than one anticipates is spot on. I’m waiting to bid it until I’m mid to low 70% range in SFO which might happen within the next bid or 2 or who knows how many. Tons of guys in the high 7000-9000’s could be holding out until they are happy with where they’d be on the list. Junior line holder in SFO looks worse than a mid range seniority 756 line with all the domestic hub to hub flying. Many trips are not even commutable on one or both ends. So I fully expect there to always be a healthy influx of guys waiting until they hit the sweet spot of getting the 17-19 day off range with no BS hub to hub trips that start early and finish late. Bid wisely indeed!

 

I think the number of people coming over on top of you is going to be limited. The bottom line holders seem to be holding the unproductive domestic flying with little open time to trade for. You need to be over 60% to touch decent flying and by that time you are probably a line holding narrowbody captain with more opportunity for premium pay and more open trips to trade with. There might be a few that want to see this type of flying but I don't think it will make sense financially for many.