DEN for UA has
72 787 CAP
105 787 FO

65 756 CAP
57 756 FO

171 320 CAP
191 320 FO

289 737 CAP
297 737 CAP

Several hundred Pilot Instructor positions at the Training Center available to line pilots after 1 year of service.
Prob an additional Hundred Check Captain positions at the Training Center to line pilots after line service as a Captain.

The Training Center positions are apply/interview positions available and right now they are having open houses and inviting pilots who are coming up on a year of service to try to get people to come work in the sim world.

All together between the airport and the sim building we have to have around 1800-2000 pilots based in Denver. On the current vacancy (and previous ones) there are unfilled vacancies for 737 Captain, so if you have been here a year (UA rule that you have to be here a year before bidding Captain) you could hold Captain in Denver.

That's bananas. In 2015 when I had to choose between the two, it was years to hold DEN as a FO and over 10 yrs to hold left seat on the Bus or 737. Crazy how things can change in a few years. If I had to choose today, I'd pick UAL living in DEN.

UAL 100% for Denver. You can fly multiple types, or as others have said, you can always do the training center job and make a whole career out of that. Be home (almost) every night. Pick up a few extra days if you want. As a local, Denver UAL is a no brained.

Ha! I know people who had to commute to reserve for over 10 years! I think he'll be on reserve for a long time in MCO both as an FO and especially as a Captain.

And I didn't say he should base his decision SOLELY on reserve rules, did I?

I’d pick UAL living in DEN. Heck if I was younger and Jr 5 or less. I’d apply to UAL if I was in DEN. I’d also apply to DAL and move to a base.

Thanks guys for the amount of pilots based in Denver for each airline. Seems like both have around 1300 line pilots. If you go into the training department at UAL and training slows down can you just go back to the line in DEN?
Is reserve really so bad at UAL that guys living in base won't take the year upgrade to Captain? It seems like you would be more likely to get bounced out of DEN at United if they downsize or move the airplane you are on and if training guys can bump you if they go back to the line.

TK instructors make more than reserve captains, are home almost every night and can cherry pick their flying…

yes you could absolutely get bounced out of DEN. Will that happen? who knows. If you get hired right now, probably not, but not guaranteed. It really just depends on how FUBAR the economy goes the next few years.

Met a guy that lived in DEN that took Southwest over United in 2019 because someone told him it was “20 years” to hold Captain in Denver and only 12 at Southwest. So he turned down United and went to SWA instead because he would be a Captain there sooner. He’s still an FO in DEN for Southwest and he could hold 756 or 737 Captain in DEN or 787 FO at United. He’d have over 4,000 pilots junior to him right now. In his mid 30s too.

Sometimes you just don’t know what the right move is/was.

Its not that its “bad at UAL”. Its that WB FO is such an easy job and the pay is almost the same. We are adding 100+ planes a year and 2,600+ pilots a year, and we just can’t keep up. Its not that we have unfilled Captain positions, but that we have unfilled positions everywhere. New hires can select 777 or 787 FO. A lot of people are staying put because they like their easy commute or their schedules and with the current pay its a diminishing return to upgrade.

We have to hire 10,000 pilots in the next 4 years to staff 150 A-321s, 400 737s and 100-200 787s we have on order. 1 of every 5 planes that rolls off the Boeing assembly line between now and 2030 is coming to United. Virtually all of that is for growth. These are growing pains. Its an opportunity for pilots at other airlines to come here and go right to International WB FO or wait a year and go to domestic NB Captain.

Also if they displace out of the training center, those pilots can just go to the line in DEN and displace more junior pilots. We are adding another massive sim building with classrooms large enough to hold 150 pilots because that’s potentially how large new hire classes will be in 2024 when we are taking on 130 new planes that year.