The fundamental answer is the they are ALL really good jobs. If only one were hiring ... people would be falling over each other to go there. They are each, in general, vastly better than almost any other job in aviation.

I'd also say the unknowable differences vastly exceed the knowable ones. So take the first offer and if you wanna live somewhere else ... keep applying.

Give priority to a fortress hub (DFW, IAH, ATL, MIA, MSP, DTW, DEN) or someplace too big to fail (NYC, ORD, LAX, WAS)

…oh you mean Detroit? Lol!

Well yeah. We don't have a NYC 350 base either.

go with whoever hires you first - most people don’t get a job offer from all 3, maybe 2

DL guy here. DL pilots can reserve the JS 6 days prior at 1200 EST, and if you are on reserve with a report between 1000-1800, we hae a one flight commuter policy as well. Even if you do have a "backup requred", your primary flight doesn't have to be on DL metal, only the backup. As long as you did your due dillegence, and don't abuse the system, you will not get in trouble, ever. They just drop the trip.

Totally agree with the "go where stand to live and drive to work" mantra.

This is very outdated, NH's have not gotten a 330/350/764 at DL in nearly a year (and was an odd confluence of drivers beyond the scope of this discussion).

We have had 5 monthly bids (6th closed today, results pending), and WB FO is very consitently taking 70% at DL to hold (roughly 11500 out of 16500ish and climbing). Barring Covid 2.0 or WWIII, DL will never see NH's get a WB again. At projected hiring rates, it will take the better part of a decade before a pilot hired tomorrow will hit 70%. FWIW.


//break, break//

I will never understand why people feel the need to snarkily crap on and condescend to people who are hear just trying to learn, and ask qeuestions. Never. To the OP, just ignore them, don't hold it against the company whose forum you are in, becaus the vast majority to pilots at all three are good peple, and they all have a few who are just complkete A-Holes. Noone has the market cornered in that department....

All 3 Majors have very, very similar contracts now. Many of the differences have been eliminated with the recent round of new contracts. The nuances are not worth considereing over the aforementioned "live in base", or where you can easily commiute. If you absolutely can't decide, go where your seniority will rise the best over the long term. Good Luck.

Bingo. Guys go crazy over "XYZ gets $0.20 more in per diem. "Guys complain about the nuttiest stuff - like merging and getting a 70% (?) pay raise "but, but....I get less life insurance now!" Strange concept...if the life insurance is that important buy more yourself. In general DL is considered to have the best contract but a couple of my DL buddies wish they had some of the goodies AA has in their contract. Losing sleep over any of this is nuts - choose the easiest Big 3 airline you can drive or commute to. If there's 2 that are easiest take whichever hires you, or hires you first.

I've worked with guys who were Captains around 30, w/b CA's before 40, and 777 CA's by 50. Life was unfair to them. Some miserable people. On the other side I've flown with guys who've lost young kids. That's a pain that will never go away. Guess who's miserable?? Despite all the pain they're not miserable despite the pain they're dealing with.

Minor point...if guys have several options and plan to fly w/b's I'd say figure out where they'd sit among the w/b's at the end of their careers. United has more large w/b's than DL and AA. If they want to try and come up with a WAG about the value of each final seniority number (actually figuring out year by year for the career is better....but that takes more effort to figure out) I'd give UA a 30% bump and DL a 15% bump over AA's final seniority number. Eg retire at 1000 @ AA? Delta 1150 and UA 1300 seniority might have the same effective w/b relative seniority.

Fair enough, I only mentioned it as a counterpoint to the statement that it will take forever to hold WB FO here. With continued hiring of 200/mo until mid '24 and an alleged wide body order coming, WB FO shouldn't take forever even if its not available right out of the gate as a newhire.

Delta is getting regional pilot jackets in the first uniform refresh in 75 years. You have to supply your own ear buds though.

Idk how you came up with any of these numbers and percentages. It reads as if you’re just shooting from the hip. I can hold DFW WB CA at AAL before any WB CA base at DAL. That has everything to do with seniority progression. Sure, UAL provides the fastest path to WB if commuting to the west/east coast is your jam. Relative seniority doesn’t really play a huge role in livable hub like DEN for UAL.

"Livable hub"?