777 Schedules
 

What are the 777 schedules like? I know they are limited at the moment due to Covid, but international travel is coming back. Is the 777 flying in one base preferred over another if someone is willing to move to (or commute to) any base? TIA

Curious to why you are asking the question? Seniority varies widely by base likely due to cost of living and not necessarily schedules.

In general - junior lines are domestic and less productive. Senior lines pay more a
with more days off. Commuters will go to whatever base provides them the most relative seniority…or most commutable trips.

My assumption is that you are not on property. It will take years to hold any widebody FO line in any junior base and maybe up to a decade to hold a widebody line in let’s say DEN or IAH. We do have some folks squeeze in from time to time at the bottom of widebody reserve in EWR/SFO but they will stay reserve a long time as people bid in above them. There is a reason why junior reserve goes junior…

Thanks for the information. I have a class date. Long term I would like to fly the 777. Since I have school aged children, my wife and I are discussing moving close to a base that will eventually offer the opportunity to fly the 777. Many years on reserve is assumed. That’s why we are asking the questions now so we can make more informed decisions about where we might want to live. Or about the best commuting situation. Thanks again.

Then plan on living near EWR or SFO. The two most junior bases systemwide. Both have 777s and 787s.

For EWR, I see a lot of pilots mention PA.
For SFO, many commute from neighboring states... WA, OR, NV. Some live inland CA.

Your budget will determine how close to base you are willing to live for those bases.

Gotcha! CONGRATS and welcome...

So - best question to ask yourself - do you want to commute to this job? The only reason in my opinion to commute is if a person had requirements to live near family/wifes family. If the answer to that is YES and you want to keep them...then commuting is worthwhile. If you have the option of moving to a UAL base with no issues that will create drama - do so. The best places to move to - somewhere near SFO/EWR.

Commuting to this job makes a GREAT job into a "meh" career.

The best scenario I can offer you with small children is this - living in base and having enough seniority in whatever seat to hold a line and then bidding reserve as a choice during the non-busy months. So think - line holder Jun-Aug and Nov/Dec and reserve the remaining times of the year. You will have a predictable schedule when the operation is crazy busy and therefore not abused on reserve and then barely fly at all during the non-peak periods. That lifestyle is far better than being the plug on a global fleet where you never know if you are going to be working or not.

Reserves on global fleets is not a good lifestyle for family with small kids because you can never count on your days off really as "days off" except for 6 days per month that we call Holy Days Off. Imagine thinking your last day of reserve is your last day of work and then being told you are flying a 6 day trip starting 13 hours later.

Either way you don't have any bad choices right now - there are some great places to raise kids within 90 min of IAD/EWR...maybe SFO. IAH/ORD run more senior and I know nothing about LAX other than the sunshine taxes of CA.

Good luck with your decision.

Thank you for this information. This is great. We will probably stay east coast. So EWR or IAD. It seems from your information that EWR may provide a better QOL than IAD? Both could work for us as far as relocating. We would live 1.5-2.0 hours from either airport from what I’m seeing as affordable places fo live that are a little more rural.

Dont forget that you get a paid company move once in a career, so moving on your own dime now may not be the best option monetarily. You might be better off commuting for a year, then making the call.

Good information. Again. Thank you.

Everything right now is in flux also. The time it takes to position yourself as the junior man on the WB FO list may take a few years and a lot can happen with basing over that time. Although, I don’t think anyone expects EWR to lose the 777.

90 min away from the company lot is about the sweet spot for being about as far away from the airport and being stress free as possible when it comes to our "short call". 2.5 hrs from callout to report time - and in Dulles under normal ops it takes 30 min from the employee parking lot to ops.

Eastern PA seems to be the destination of choice but there is a tax bill associated with places like Doylestown and Bucks County. Much of it has to do with the school district - houses across town that are just as nice will be 1/3 cheaper due to the school district.

Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore of MD are both about 90 min from IAD and very rural - school districts vary widely. There are some good school districts in NoVA and out by Winchester VA but it is pricier. I have a friend that is junior on the airbus and he bids BWI trips since he lives just over the bridge in MD.

Since you were asking about 777 stuff: Junior widebody in IAD is much more senior than EWR....like...years. The junior widebody FO in IAD was able to successfully gamble a base trade from EWR if my memory serves correctly. The difference between the plug and the next senior pilot is like 1500 seniority numbers which is almost senior enough to hold the left seat in a narrow body.

Edited to add: For Zillow search driving time - the employee lot address for Dulles:
45077 Flight Crew Dr, Sterling, VA 20166