Anyone WN to UAL?
 

Longtime APC lurker... currently at SWA but considering United. Currently drive to a SWA domicile, which also is a United domicile. 6 years with Southwest.
Had planned to stay forever but the meltdown, and the single fleet type is weighing on me. Application going live in a few days, I realize this is all academic until a CJO is in hand.

Really appreciate anyone who was WN and took the leap. We usually hear about how great our vacations are, how great the flexibility is etc. What has your experience at United been like?
Would you do it again?

Yes Whackmaster we know your inputs on the noisy/cramped flight deck ; p

I'm in exactly the same position. Over 5 years at SWA and just submitted an app to UAL. Drive to domicile with both.
I don't want to work for a regional for the next 2 decades. Been contemplating this change for a few months, but the Flightmare before/during/after Christmas (and management's words/actions since then) was the proverbial last straw.

I made the jump in 2013. No regrets.

Also: have you run into anyone who has left UA for WN

It’s fairly common, yes. Just not recently.

Such is the cyclical nature of this industry. If I had 5 years at SWA and lived in a UAL domicile, I would definitely take a good hard look at it for sure. That being said, at that point you are probably a year and some change from holding captain at SWA in most of the locations that they share, so choose wisely.

“History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.”
-Mark Twain

I left WN for UA but I had only been there for 4 months so my situation is a bit different. That being said I am liking it at UA. I live in both a WN and UA domicile so that wasn’t a factor in my decision. What did factor in was the variety in flying. For the two months i was on the line at WN I flew into the same airports day after day…it felt like Groundhog Day every time I started a trip. With 6 years in at SW that would be a much more difficult decision to make considering your seniority. Feel free to DM me if you want.

I'd take a look at the retirements and how it would affect your seniority going forward. United has been on a hiring spree. I'd imagine those hired 2-3 years ago have a vastly different outlook than those recently hired. Hopefully someone with better knowledge can speak to the situation.

Best of luck.

The advantage that UA has in this area is that United can (and is) growing the mainline while it shrinks the RJ world. So, it can grow both organically and by upsizing aircraft from RJs to mainline, while WN can only grow organically. Additionally the UA pilot group is older than WN so it still has significant retirements (500+) every year for the next 10 at least.

Certainly the 2018-2019 hires got a scare at the start with COVID, but now are looking golden and are certainly off to an incredible start to the career, but those that are coming this year shouldn't be too shabby either.

Does anyone know the size of UAL’s list as of today, and the number they hope to have on it in 5-10 years? The movement is great - just trying to gauge how far behind the curve I would be if I made the jump from a ULCC in my mid-30’s. Thanks

15,700ish, with 12,800 active line flying (rest are on ltd, various leaves or instructors/mgmt). The goal I've seen is 18,000. If you factor in retirements, then the current pace of hiring of 22-2400 a year is going to be the pace for several more years. Each aircraft on order drives approx 8 pilots per seat or 16 per plane. With growth of 350ish planes and retirements, I'd say another 8k or so more pilots to hire to fill the planes on order. That number will need to be hired in the next 5 years. Leaving now would easily make sense imho.