CrowneVic,

Front end commutability from the west coast will be better for you as a new hire. Trips can start with a red eye, which gives you a lot more flexibility getting to work. Vice versa on the east coast, many trips end with a red eye, which gives you options to get home. Just a couple thoughts I never took into account when I started. Good luck!

Apparently not directly, but it seems BART train to/from SFO plus a single bus leg would do the trick. Still sounds easier than EWR.

There’s still my question of whether SFO base also requires flying out of SJC?

And where is the “funner” flying?

Going between EWR-LGA isn’t all that bad except late at night or early in the am.

I hate to say it, but that's gonna be the last of your worries.

The good stuff won't end up at the bottom of the PBS awards or in open time for assignment to reserves except for the occasional last minute sick call. You'll get some great flying occasionally on RSV but it won't be the norm, and it's not something you can control. Any control you have will be seniority based and there will be nearly 14,000 pilots senior to you.

You are gonna be on reserve. The phone's gonna ring and you are gonna fly where (and when) they tell you to fly.

On the other hand, if you hope to score a layover sipping a Mai Tai under a palm tree in Hawaii or the Caribbean, the entire 737 fleet is ETOPS and the 320 is not. (foot stomp)

Aha! You just answered the question a friend and I were asking each other, wondering why it seemed the 73 gets all the better flying, while the bus appears to be relegated to mostly domestic stuff.

We didn't understand it, considering they are both very similar with respect to performance, capacity, range, etc. It would have to be the ETOPS cert.

I'm guessing the new XLRs on order will be ETOPS?

To answer your question...yes SFO covers down on SJC while on reserve. About 5% of trips are out of SJC.
If you commute into SFO you can then take the Monterray Shuttle to SJC for about $15.
LAX covers down on several airports....burbank, ontario, orange county etc.

Additionally, I think many of the A320’s don’t have rafts, limiting them to 162NM off shore with our exemption.

I would assume the 321XLR’s will be ETOPS.

From Company Press Release.



“CHICAGO, Dec. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- United Airlines today announced an order to purchase 50 new Airbus A321XLR aircraft, enabling the carrier to begin replacing and retiring its existing fleet of Boeing 757-200 aircraft and further meet the airline's operational needs by pairing the optimal aircraft with select transatlantic routes.”

Since United says they are replacement for 757-200’s, especially for 757’s flying North Atlantic ops. I’d say yes that they will be ETOPS aircraft.

Sounds like you’re in DFW.

LAX personally I would avoid for the reasons listed, four different airports to cover.

EWR and SFO are going to be the same flying for the most part. A lot more LGA flying for EWR than SJC from SFO. For the LGA trips look at SWA and DAL. SWA has consolidated all their NY flying at LGA.

Seniority will be pretty even at either.

Winter is the big difference... EWR routinely is allowed positive space for commuters when the weather is bad. Takes a lot of stress out of the commute on those days. SFO NEVER EVER EVER gets positive space when the weather is bad. I’m not exaggerating when I say a shift in the wind will trigger 3+ hour flow delays and massive cancellations.

Good luck and welcome aboard!

I have to agree, getting Ontario’ed out of LAX is a huge time consuming and expensive issue.

Great thread. And thanks for all the advice so far.

Most desired scenario until upgrade would be WB FO on the west coast at United. Looks like that would be SFO on the Triple. QOL of life is important, but a job at United pays off in the long term and may be worth the short term commuter pain. I have roughly 20 years until I retire.

1. If I get hired this year, with all the UAL retirements coming up, would I be able to make CA 777 at United? Any ideas when?

2. At my age is it likely I will get 75/76 class? Will previous wide body time count towards this or is it just a roll of the dice which airplane you get?

3. What is the most likely path to WB on West Coast? NB east coast for a few years then WB? Or WB much sooner than has been normal?

4. How many days per month are less senior pilots working on the WB fleet from SFO? How long are average trips from home?

I sincerely appreciate any and all advice here!

You can get SFO right away. No need to commute to the east coast. You can get the 777 in your first year but would be on reserve for at least 3 years.
756 slots come up in new hire class every now and then. Former widebody experience means nothing for aircraft bidding. It's all about seniority. Most 777 trips are 3-4 days with an occasional 5 day.
Good luck.

SFO base is the place to be if your Jr and want a wide body, it will move quick. If you get awarded 320 or 737, you will very quickly hold a line, and it’s great to have the option of keeping that vs reserve wide body. As a side note any wide body ETOPS type experience will make training a little easier as our International training is really terrible, when I was on the 777 you basically get a little ETOPS international type training on IOE, but then I guess they just expect you to learn on the job lol, my friend at FedEx was amazed how rushed and weak our program was compared to his. We had a very rushed map plotting class where my instructor told two of us “you should have flown the 757 before this plane, you’ll figure it out online I guess”. That was a few years ago, maybe it’s better??

Airbus Question
 

Does UAL have the 5 pin headset connector or modified two prong? TY

Save that question for at the end of the interview.

2 prong. Planes have a company minitel too.

This is a projection for a typical new hire. The date is when they could hold that seat. There are over 10,000 retirements over the next 20 years, on a 13,000 list.

Club Assess
 

For new hires is there a fee waived for annual fee?

Also, anyway of just getting club assess without getting the card?

Awesome chart! Thanks for that. Couple questions:

1. Does that represent the G-line, or the bottom pilot to hold reserve. I imagine by "hold that seat" , you mean the latter.
2. Are the forecast dates based on historical rates of attrition and seniority growth, or do they factor in future growth/attrition? i.e. Could the next 25 years see better growth than the last 25 years, and therefore, are those dates more conservative?

1. It represents the most junior pilot in that seat.
2. I'm not entirely sure, but I think it goes strictly by age 65 retirement losses. I don’t think it looks at growth or shrinking either. New hires are added regularly though.

I would tend to agree.
Growth will obviously help.. the furlough/stagnation that might happen in the next 15 years will obviously hurt.. Age 67 or 70 will be semi indifferent.

That being written, anyone hired here or at Delta should have an amazing 20+ years ahead of them~

FS, FP & FtC
Motch

Does ALPA have a PUBLIC opinion on age 67 or 70. It would be nice to see what our dues money is paying for.
According to some AME friends of mine, cognitive testing would be too difficult and too subjective and require allot of additional wickets to jump through. Your average AME doesn't want any part of that geriatric examination certification.

ALPA’s official stance? Don’t know.

Unofficial? Well how old are the people running ALPA? That is a good bet on what the unofficial stance is.

I asked the previous head of ALPA he said there wasn’t one. I think most the people in the room were surprised by the answer.

Not to Thread Drift..
But I'd be surprised if we ever get an official 'opinion' from ALPA National.
BIG can of worms!

That being written, increasing the age above 65 creates as many new problems versus the amount of old problems it solves.
My opinion-
1) An age increase would allow some pilots to stay past 65 while on LTD. Hmm.. who is going to pay for that?
2) How do you certify someone to fly above 65 with regards to their cognitive skills? If they don't hack it in a sim or some sort of computer based test... then what?! LTD or forced retirement? Who designs the cog test?

*I had expected an uptick of deaths while on trips when the age went from 60 to 65 since they didn't change the medicals. As my therapist (Joking.. it's my girlfriend > fiance > soon to be wife!) would say- good to admit when you're wrong. I was wrong (happily so) about that one.

3) Who's going to be the one to sign off (bet) on raising the age?
We lost a great AME here in the EWR area (Doc D). Seems it's harder to find an AME now than before. So are we going to have enough AME's willing to sign off that someone that is 65+ is medically healthy to continue flying?
See 1 and 2!

End of the day, raising it to 65+ may help the RJ world (keeping some of their senior pilots who may also be LCA's) more than helping the Legacy world. Might help the industry as a whole by extending any possible pilot shortage a few years at most.
Don't think it's happening tomorrow but I would have lost the other bet as I expected that it would happen before 2020. (lol.. Gina is loving this)
But I also won't be surprised if it does happen at some point in this decade.

As far as the great seniority tool is concerned-
United Seniority
Great place to see (potential) info with regards to where you might be!
Mind you, I have progressively moved up since I started following it as we have lost pilots who were senior to me AND younger. Not the way I want to move up.
And you can't bet on anything that is there.. at least not 100%. But it does back up stuff that I figure out myself.
ie, if/when I can hold a certain seat.. where I should be and when..
Anyways-

FS, FP and FtC
Motch

If not an SNL fan pass this one by. Lengthy spoof last night on LGA. Some of the licks were spot on.

https://youtu.be/6d7Vk_qaiB8

SNL only hits it out of the ball park every now and then,,
But that skit was pretty ****ing good~
LOL

FS, FP & FtC
Motch