Take the interview?
 

Hey there,

I currently have a CJO at Delta from an interview in May, and a late August indoc class. I also have a United interview scheduled in late July. Delta has been my #1 choice for a long time, but United is a close second. I live in Southern California, so LAX base is where I plan to end up.

My question is, is there any harm in taking the interview knowing that I would turn down a CJO? If I decline a CJO and say Delta goes under a year from now, would I be able to re-apply to United? The same question applies for if I cancel the interview? Would I be better off declining the interview for now and being able to apply again down the road in case of some catastrophe? I would also have to begin prepare for the technical skills portion of the interview which will take a little time.

Thanks!

Just go to delta, they aren’t going under lol. If you aren’t happy re apply to united at a later time. No point potentially burning a bridge by turning down a CJO that could have gone to someone else

1. Delta isn’t going to go under - they are too big to fail. At WORST they would end up merging with someone else but even that is highly improbable.
2. In either one you could probably get LAX fairly readily.
3. Interviewing does not mean you are going to get the CJO and even canceling the CJO as long as you gave them lead time enough to slide someone else into the Indoc date would not leave any sort of indelible stain on your record either.

If DAL is your #1 choice then just go there. If you want to do United pilots a solid, wait and see if the new TA passes and if so, cancel your interview citing the new contract as the reason 😂.

(Shameless plug for UA despite the stupidity of the current TA)

Did anybody mention that the junior lineholder in July in the entire company was a LAX 737 FO (2 months on the property, so not even a full month on reserve) and Captain bids in LAX have been going unfilled (can't bid on those till off probation). So, your seniority movement at LAX is currently unbelieivable on the UA side.

If Delta goes under, United will at the very least stop all hiring.

If you already have the job you want there is no need to seek another interview. Delta has a good product and loyal customer base. If you want to wear the hat and the double breasted horse blanket for your career...go for it. If you would prefer a career dozing for dollars on a widebody - you might want to take the UAL interview.

is this someone available the whole month? Lines go super junior all the time when the person doesn’t need the whole month filled.

I say gather as many interviews and job offers as possible because you have no idea what tomorrow brings. I was hired by Delta in Feb 1998. Moved to Atlanta expecting to start right away. But didn't get a class date till 10 months later. In that 10 months United started interviewing and got hired and a class date and ended up at United. In between I interviewed with American and was offered a class date that I eventually turned down. The point is make options for yourself and take what works best for you and don't look back...

We have what we call the G-line. Which is the junior most person in each category that is gauranteed a line during bidding. Sometimes folks junior to that person will get a line, but the G-line person is the junior most that is gaurnateed a line if they ask for one. That is the criteria I used to determine who the junior lineholder was system wide and that person was a LAX 737 FO for July.

In the actual awarding process folks junior to that person "can" be awarded a line based on the bidding patterns of pilots senior to them. This is especially true for those that you mention that have training or vacation in the month and therefore only need 1 or 2 trips to make a legal line. With that always being a possibility, it still remains that the only people that are gauranteed a line are those at or above the Gline that actually bid for a line.

Just checked August using the same criteria and it is again a LAX 737 FO that is the juniormost person system wide that is gauranteed a line. SFO 320 FO is second.