you planning on staying in AEX long term? If so, working and commuting at UAL might be very painful even if you get IAH year/more from hire date. You can’t sit short call from AEX since it’s outside the 2.5 hour call out… so you’d be spending a lot of time as a NB reserve in a hotel/crash pad because they dish SCa out like candy.

Yes the plan would be to stay here long term. So, a year or two to pick up the base. How long would it take to pick up a line? I agree it’s a terrible place to be to commute, but we don’t want to move for family reasons.

Commuting to EWR reserve
 

Hey guys! Im super excited to join the team what looks like will be the first or second week of August!

I've pretty much limited myself down to bidding 73 EWR or 756 EWR. I'm going to plan to commute from Charlotte for the first year or two. I've been thinking it logically makes the most since to get a line as quickly as possible on the 73. Once I could hold a line on the 756 i'd be really excited to bid up. I checked passrider and confirmed that there will be average 13-16 flights per day from CLT-EWR and back. 5-6AM departures going and 11PM-12AM departures returning.

Ive done alot of reading on here and have narrowed down that I will be on long call, convertible to short call and airport standby.

My big questions (I know a couple of these have been answered in the last few weeks, i'm just looking for an updated number) are:

1: How long would I be currently looking at being reserve? (what's the current hard number, and what's the best educated guess)
2: Is EWR the most logical commute for QOL and advancement given CLT commuting circumstances? (I'm just making sure I haven't overlooked something.)
3: For those that commute to EWR, how have the crash pads been? I'm looking at Airbnb monthly for QOL over cost.
4: For those that are on 73 EWR reserve, how often are you getting called/used/airport standby.
5: Would sitting Long Call in CLT be possible or should I plan on always being on reserve in EWR.

Thanks to anybody that can help shed light! I'm trying to be diligent and plan ahead however, I am well aware this is a very fluid environment right now and especially in the future so I wont take any number to heart.

You would need to be in the upper 80% of the fleet’s seniority list to hold a line… based on the last category summary it would take awhile (years) between getting a lateral and being a lineholder… but all based on upward movement due to retirements and hiring. There are currently 415 IAH 737 FOs… you’d need to be around 335 on the fleet to hold a line… difference between the most junior pilot and 80% is 1000 seniority numbers.

Nobody knows. The current number is a long time because there haven't been any new-hires since early 2020. With lots of new-hires in the pike, the time will be pretty short on the 737. Probably still a couple of years on the 756 but that will depend on when, and how robustly, the 756 to Europe flying returns. I did 2-1/2 months of reserve on the 737 in EWR in 2015 when we were hiring rapidly.

IAD is the other nearby domicile but fewer flights, less growth, higher seniority levels, and a smaller base all work against you. ORD is more senior.

I did the crashpads at the Country Inn & Suites. Inexpensive and I didn't spend a lot of time there as I was a lineholder.

Similar to what Larry said:
1. No one knows.
2. EWR should be the easiest commute, particularly given that you have multiple airport options in the NY area.
3. I ditched a crashpad after a few months and just went with hotels. There are many options, some better than others and they are covered ad nauseum in other other topics.
4. Hard to gauge as flying is not yet quite normal, but explaining reserve at United is impossible until you've seen it. Under normal circumstances, you'll get used during your blocks for something. The best way to control your fate is to pick up a trip/SC/FSB if your commute is hard or prefer having more of a say in your schedule. If the commute is super easy, though, you may not care and just go up when they give you something.
5. If you have lots of flights scattered throughout the day and have no problems getting on them due to seniority, you should have no problems sitting LC from home.

It’s it normal to get assigned short call for the entire month?

Doesn't happen.

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you can’t get short call for the entire month. However I found it extremely rare (during normal times on the 737 or 756) to either not have a short call, field standby, or a flying assignment. Plan on never actually sitting long call.

Flight assignment is totally fine. I live about 4 hours from EWR and was wondering if I would be spending a bunch of time in a crash pad or if sitting reserve from home would be an option.