Life as junior SFO CA?
 

I’m considering going to UAL. I live in base for SFO and would definitely bid for captain. What’s the bottom line on QOL for an in-base, super junior reserve captain?

In the last few classes almost no one bids SFO. Is it due to the location, or are the schedules really that terrible? As an outsider, like many others, it’s tough to wrap my head around so many new hires (and current UAL pilots) passing up a captain slot.

Would love to hear from someone living that life.

Thanks in advance!

Junior mostly due to the expense of living in the Bay Area & the WX complications of commuting there. Reserve is reserve but much more palatable if you live in base. That is true of the old contract & the new.

The calculus is pretty simple supply & demand. The increased pay of upgrade is not sufficient compensation for the associated loss of QOL & relative seniority to entice enough volunteers. This is also true of both the old contract & new.

I'm not SFO based, but having been on reserve unexpectedly after I upgraded, you have no real life. As a junior person, expect to be on reserve every weekend and holiday. You have the ability to try and move around your days off, but you are at the mercy of the company allowing that, and every month is different. Some months you will have more luck than others. You also have the theoretical ability to drop reserve days, but that is also unlikely.

It's somewhat easier under the new contract becuase the don't really assign field standby anymore. They also don't typically assign as many short calls as they uese to either, but that changes based on weather/weekend/holiday/special event. You have the ability to try and pick up open trips or open short calls, but it's all seniority based, so it depends on whether or not someone else wants it or not.

On reserve previously, I've flown as little as four or five days a month to as many as every day on reserve. It varies month to month and base to base. Living in base makes it easier, but you are almost always tied to your phone.

Im not a CAPT, not SFO based nor on the 737, but am in 1 st year. I'll leave it at that as I prefer to remain anonymous.
Looking at the current open time for that category.....a fair amount of red eye on the first day, some SJO shows.
Also my hypothetical % is 65% on SFO 737 CA, it's 78% for SFO 737 FO, so that should probably be a good diagnostic of the QOL.
However I must say, almost all of the complaining I hear is from people commuting to reserve, as very few people live/want to move to the Bay Area.......and you already are willing to wrestle with that Gorilla......so what may be garbage to some could be your Gold Mine.
Ive always said this: If you are willing to pay your cost of living penalty up front, than you deserve to have all the good opportunities.
Are you already flying with Southwest out of Oakland?

Are you saying your relative seniority as a CA would be better than as an FO? If so, that's definitely not correct, and you're probably getting confused by percentages associated with unfilled vacancies. Of the people who are actually in those seats today, 65% SFO 737 CA is around seniority number 78XX, and 78% SFO 737 FO is about 164XX.

It’s obviously sobering as a new hire or CJO holder to see that it’s taken those 78xx pilots 10 years? 15 years? to hit 65%. Especially for those of us that are a little older with 20 or less years
until age 65.


Seniority forecasting is impossible, I know, but given new hires classes filling with captains, is there a shot that a pilot hired now could at least get to, maybe, 75-80% as a NB CA in five years? Assuming UAL’s growth plans remain on track.

I've been here nine years and would be 39% in SFO 73CA. My seniority varies from base to base, ranging from that to almost 70% in some of the other bases. It depends on what base people find more "desireable" than others.

One of the issue with the SFO trips for most people is that a lot of the trips start with a red-eye to the east coast. A lot of people don't like red-eyes.

yes sorry that was what I was referencing. What exactly do those percentages mean?

The percentage on the vacancy bid assumes all 60 vacancies (59 besides you) will be
filled and everyone filling the other 59 will be junior to you. That percentage is eff'd info. Although it may be closer to the truth than in the past with new hire upgrades, you really have no idea where your true percentage will end up. Better data for me is looking at the BES g-line.

The last sfo 737 CA category summary shows 39% as a 62xx seniority number. The Vacancy bidding screen is not the true reality of the situation in a base and seat. The vacancy bidding screen is NOT a good idea of your in base seniority given the fact that the company has hard time filling upgrades in sfo.