IAH seniority?
 

Hi all,

Looking at potentially transitioning to the airlines from mil in two years, and am interested in being based in Texas (I'm from DFW, the wife is from Houston). Initially I thought SWA might be the way to go, but recently it seems like United is growing and getting much better very quickly. I'm primarily leaving the military due to some QOL issues, while the wife would have another few years on her contract due to our age difference. Ultimately, I think we'd like to end up in Houston, but how senior is IAH for United, and what kind of flying goes on there? Still trying to find out how to best get similar info, but my search skills seem to not yield what I'm looking for.

Cheers!

Great question, and obviously a lot can change in two years, but Houston is one of our most senior bases. It has all our fleets and a pretty good variety of flying.

The 737 goes pretty much everywhere in the system, from Hawaii down to central and South America.
- 757/767 do a bit of South America flying and seasonally may go to Europe (In years past there was quite a bit more Europe flying on the 767)
- 777/787 farther south in Latin America (called the deep south, Rio, Buenos Aires, etc.) and the 78 is used for longer flights to Sydney, New Zealand, Africa. The mission every few years seems to change a lot with his face, but although it goes to some far flung places, there is not the same level variety has the coastal bases

communications from our network planners are that that will pick up again in the next five years, with the airport infrastructure being increased and oil rebounding. I’d say the real Takeaway, is that, although your seniority progression will be noticeably slower than other bases, the cost of living is also drastically lower, and if you have family around, I would personally say that that is probably worth it.

Both Houston for United and Dallas for American or fortress hubs, so the quality of life you will have from driving to work in a large hub will offset the ups and downs of whoever the best carrier to work for is this decade. It’s very different than life on orders and overall a great job, you are essentially an independent contractor… And you will get as much out of going to work as you put in. I enjoy engaging with the operation and the passengers, some people come to work, fluff a pillow, check the water/lavs and go home three days later (3rd FO on long haul flights). There’s something for everybody here.

Are the majority of lines in IAH/system wide 4 day trips?

Is there a good mix of 1/2/3 days?

Every base on the narrow body has a mix of 1/2/3/4 day trips. Airbus has more 4 leg day trips than the 73, but that's just the mission of the plane for now.

Out of interest, how long would it take a new hire to hold the 777 or 787 out of IAH?

Grab a Snickers...

There have been relatively new hires sneak in with base trades, a loop hole that TA1 attempted to close. The advice no one wants to hear is bid 737/320 and then move on when you can hold what you want. Bidding to the lowest group gives you the best flexibility.

For December IAH 787 has London and Sydney, and the 777 has Tokyo, Frankfurt, London, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Honolulu and a scattering of domestic trips.

I'm almost 6 years in and I'm basically at the bottom for IAH 777/787 FO.

How about 756?