Base Seniority
 

Can anyone share a list of bases by seniority for us in the CJO pool without access to the bidding system (if there even is a list floating around)?

At other airlines I've seen unofficial lists of bases with estimated time for new hires to hold a vacancy/line for each aircraft/position (e.g. EWR 737 FO: 3 months for a vacancy/Seniority #XXXXXX or date of hire, 6 months for a line/Seniority # XXXXXX or date of hire). It doesn't have to be that detailed, a simple ranking by seniority would be very useful.

Some of us are in a position to move our households before class, and it would be nice to have this information before Indoc. Selfishly, I am interested in a list of junior 73 CA bases so I can move there for long term QOL.

Any info is greatly appreciated. I feel very fortunate to be in the CJO pool, so grateful to be at United soon and be the plug.

if you want junior 737CA, right now that’s Newark, San Francisco, Denver, and kind of Chicago, but Chicago is trending more senior after the last vacancy.

there you go. Move to Newark, Denver, or San Fran.

I would pick something within a reasonable driving distance of SFO. Super junior base for almost any equipment type and the best wide body flying in the industry (IMO), should you ever get tired of the domestic narrow body grind (you will - trust me).

That said, everything changes rapidly, so five years (months?) from now this could be the worst advice you’ve ever received!

If you're just chasing seniority - EWR and SFO are the places. They're big; they're junior; they have everything.

The full answer you want is complex and time to hold a base vs hold a line vs hold an upgrade etc usually move in sync but not always. Some planes are also different between bases - some 757/767 bases are only 757 and only domestic. Some are mixed and fly primarily Europe with some SA/Hawaii also.

But broadly grouped

EWR/SFO - as noted above - biggest, juniorest, has everything
LAS/MCO/GUM/CLE - 737 only bases. Small. Not for everyday use
IAH - Only hub that is red, warm and no state income tax. Senior
DEN/LAX/IAD/ORD - "normal". suitable for everyday use

the one time in my Life living in this god foresaken state will benefit me (NJ)

Thank you all. This helped very much.

I am eyeing SFO now. I'll start searching for towns within 2 hrs to set up a temporary (1-2 year) home until we get to know the area better.

On the FO side, IAH is now really junior. All the new hires are going to IAH, EWR and ORD... People are bidding out of IAH as fast as they can (myself included, because Houston is... Houston).

Texans are awfully proud of their no state income tax but most pay the break even through property & sales taxes. Numbers vary by analysis but if you’re making south of around $500K, TX & CA have a relatively even overall tax burden.

TX is no doubt less expensive overall due to other cost of living factors, but the image of TX as a tax haven is only true for the very wealthy.

Are the junior 320 CA bases also EWR and SFO?

Idk about that… I’d love to see your math. Funny how you selected CA over New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut, New Hampshire. That’s cool though let’s play with the numbers.

Quick math on a $1,000,000 property you’re paying roughly 10k in CA vs 20k in TX. State tax in California single filers pay 11.3% and joint filers pay 10.3%. In your comparison a joint filer making 500k would pay 52k in CA state taxes vs $0 in TX.

Here’s where it gets almost comical — average house price in Los Angeles 1.1m vs 320k in Dallas. So basically I can get a larger house in Dallas for less than half the price wiping out the extra 1% I’m paying on property taxes vs California.