ObiOne

Hey everyone, I recently started a similar thread on the AA side, but wanted to make sure I am getting both perspectives. If you responded in the other thread, thank you and feel free to ignore this if you’d like.

I personally am in the PA/NJ area, so EWR and PHL are very accessible, with JFK/LGA being more of a fringe possibility.

The way I see it, both have certain advantages…


UAL:
- Good seniority progression (despite having hired ~3000-4000 since covid)
- EWR is a key hub with more flying opportunities than PHL
- Insane amount of wide bodies/orders (wide body flying high priority)
- Less current debt
- Clearest vision for expansion going forward

AA:
- Seems to have best upward seniority mobility for a person in mid to late 20’s
- PHL most accessible to me
- Possibly easier to pursue opportunities in addition to line flying given shorter drive to PHL
- Greatest number of good bases (by a long shot)
- New fleet, so likely to accrue least amount of debt going forward

They both seem to be roughly the same in terms of quality of life at the moment, despite their differences.

Both are great potential paths, so I am curious if anyone with more experience than I has any input as to whether my perception of things is accurate. As always, it’s appreciated.

Hedley

For someone in their mid to late twenties, the differences between the big 3 will most likely be a wash over a long career. If flying wide bodies is your primary goal, then UA would be the obvious choice. For everything else you mentioned, I’d go to AA. If I was in your shoes, a base that is close and others that you’d be willing to live in would weigh much more than wide body flying.

Lumberg823

Go to AA, easy choice. Proximity to PHL and the seniority progression makes it the right choice for you.

KnightNight

Is Philly even a major player for AA anymore? Honest question

ObiOne

It’s slightly bigger than their ORD base. Just under 1,000 pilots.

Otterbox

It has shrunk a lot since covid as AA has focused on DFW, CLT and IAD for their revenue premium, but PHL is still an AA fortress hub.

ObiOne

What defines a “fortress hub” out of curiosity?

Brickfire

A sizeable market without significant competition where you can keep fares high

Ny/la/ord are too big to be a fortress. The second tier cities (phl/atl) are where the money is.

If you’re close to phl… go AA

Otterbox

When an airline has a significant majority of the flights to/from a hub. At one point in time AA and its regionals had 75% of PHL flying. There’s significantly less PHL AA mainline since they parked all of the 756 and 330 fleets.

GPullR

Go to AA. UAL is pretty awful right now. Who knows what century it'll get fixed. Only thing I laugh at is your comment about AA has way better hubs. Name 1 good one they have??