ORD base
 

Hello, I swore I saw this post somewhere but could not find it. I'm a 4 year FO at SWA. I like SWA but I live near ORd. Thinking of making the jump to UAL. At current growth rate (yes I know the industry can change as much as the wind), what type of time frame do you think it would take to hold weekends off in order as FO, or any sched as CA at ORD?

For the 737…

For Mar, it looks like the junior lineholder to be awarded weekends off was hired ~1.5 years ago. Take that with a grain of salt, though… many people above him weren’t awarded weekends off, but probably didn’t bid them off, either. A lot depends on what people above you do in PBS.

As far as NB CA “schedules,” go, I’m not sure if you are referring to reserve or lineholder. Junior reserve was hired in Sep 21, junior lineholder, Dec 18.

Airbus would be similar and no one can predict the future. YMMV.

This might be a dumb question, but is there an easy way to tell which aircraft are hubbed out of each base?

I eventually want to fly out of ORD, and was trying to figure out which planes are there. I’d assume it has several, but I want to know all my options to not be seat locked out of ORD.

If by "hubbed" you mean base, or what we call category these days, ORD has all fleets except for the 777.

Category, that’s good to know. My mil background is showing… thanks for the info!

Same situation, SWA FO looking at potentially jumping over to UA for ORD, how long to hold ORD? I keep seeing UA class drops and for the 737 it’s all IAH it seems for NH’s.

not long. Base trade or vacancy bid.

thanks, appreciate the response.

6-12 months Weekend FO on the 737. 12 month Captain on the 737. Both Reserve.
Junior CA award on the airbus is 18 months on property.

How long to hold 787 in ORD? Curious about both seats. Thanks.

hold it? Right now, less than a year for FO.

for CA? Like, just prior to the Sun going nova.

we have over 16000 pilots, there were periods of no hiring, and the junior CA is in the 4000s seniority number. So…gonna be a minute.

LOL appreciate the info. I just never see it discussed in here so had to ask. Thanks.

If you mean right seat and bunkie… both under a year lol

Left seat… many many years. Like 20% system seniority

But Can you hold 75/76 CA in a year or 2 if you chose to move bases?

Thanks,

Dimps

Currently yes you can hold lax and sfo on 756 as a captain if you move off ORD after a year (off probation obviously for upgrade) ORD most junior 756 captain is like 9600/16000 seniority. Everything subject to change especially with a new contract coming in the future that may improve reserve rules and make some BES more senior

Thanks a lot KnightNight

Just checking that this is still the case where you can get weekends off after 6-12 months in ORD and if so is that also the case for the 320?

That’s a tough question because it assumes that someone bids a certain way. But, for both fleets a senior reserve is just over a year on property. Mid-seniority FOs that could get weekends off on a line is around 4-5k from the bottom, so about two years at the current rate.

How long are you expected to be on reserve if awarded 787 FO position in ORD?

ORD 787 FO unlikely to be awarded anytime soon sadly. They reduced the FOs by 30 when Delhi went away, with TLV gone for foreseeable future might be lower still. Buddy is 80% after almost 3 years on property. He can hold a line at times.

Whats possible now a days for a new hire either from class or shortly there after for LAX? And bonus question, whats desirable out of there? Thanks

odd to put in ORD thread hehe. 737/320 is always the answer c since you can always move up in category . 756 LAX and SFO are mostly transcon redeyes. LAX 787 is average size but good flying, slow seniority progression tho

Thanks for the Info, yep simply spaced on thread title.

In regards to weekends off on the A320/737 in ORD on reserve can you bid a certain way to get them?

I’m at Spirit and every month on reserve I waive my guaranteed days off to 1 and request weekends off. It pretty much worked starting my 2nd month on the line.

If you need that kind of flexibility, stay at spirit. And I’m not saying that with any sort of malice.

when you’re senior enough, you can bid reserve on weekdays only, but that’s a long ways off.

ALPA publishes a bidding strategy handbook that has some "get weekends off" tips. But as in all things, seniority rules. IMHO the new work rules will make reserve go more senior. Now that FSB is worth 3 hours of add-pay, tons of locals are going to bid a week-day reserve schedule becase FSB has a <5% use rate. You might be able to play around with the QOL calculator on aircrewedge.com to figure that out for NB ORD.

LAX shows up on the new-hire drop about every other class or so. Even if it isn't in the drop, it will show up in the next vacancy or two. Even if you have to take SFO or IAH you are very likely to be able to trade into it before you are done with OE

What's desireable? What do you want? Go to flightsfrom.com and sort the UAL flights out of LAX to see where each plane goes. If you have a GF in GUA then do that. If you love HI then do that. If you want to bounce back and for to SFO and ONT doing day-trips, then do that.

Great Info! Appreciate it, desirable as in trips and days off is what I was looking for, I do love HI and day-trips! GUA is Way to far fore that! Haha

If ORD is not available in the new hire drop, would you choose the 737 or A320 at another base, if the only consideration is getting an ORD base as soon as possible?

Yes, that would be the fastest route there.

Thanks, but I meant to ask if there was a difference between the two in terms of timing and movement later

There are more 737s (a lot more), so there is always the potential that a ORD 737 would show up before the Bus, but in this current vacancy, there are about the same amount on both. Movement on either fleet is about the same. Sometimes your seniority will be be better on the bus, sometimes on the 737.

Thanks. A friend of mine needs to decide tomorrow between 737 in IAH (preferred airplane) or A’bus in LAX (second preferred base).

In this case, I'd definitely take the airplane over location. You can switch bases whenever there are openings on a vacancy bid (about once a month right now), but you'd have to serve out your 2 year seat lock to switch from 320 FO to 737 FO.

How does the base swap system work at UA? My goal is ORD 737/320, planning for the 737 just due to age.

Less concerned about being a Line holder as long as I'm in base, but what's the most junior FO in ORD?

Thanks!

It went unfilled recently in both NB FO seats

You tell UAL where you want to go, and if someone else want's to swap bases with you.... But don't spend any time worrying about it. You'll likely get it in a vacancy before a base trade.

The bottom of the seniority list at ORD is a mix of 737 and 320. There were plenty of 320 and 737 vacancies unfilled this month.

I would bid 737 anywere and then wait. The 737 base is almost 2x the size of the 320 base at ORD.

Works great! A well oiled machine. BUT, our new contract prohibits base trades for anyone that’s junior to the most junior AWARDED position. Big change! Not really a NB issue. But WB…🙄I’m a 10th year FO and it’s amazing how hard it is to get into that base. I’ll reattempt this spring.