Current CJO to class date time
 

Can anyone give insight on the current class dates being offered and when those CJOs went out? There is probably an old thread, but it seems beneficial for the new wave of hiring to start fresh.

The two data points I have are May and June CJO with Sept/Oct class dates; so roughly 4 months. However, UA likes to keep a "mix" of backgrounds in classes, so these times can vary wildly.

I interviewed 2 weeks ago and was told they're targeting 60-90 days interview to class, with some priority given to current Spirit pilots.

There’s a ratio of backgrounds they aim for. 121, 135, mil and spirit folks will all see variations between class dates offered so keep that in mind

Can someone answer what a commute to the junior bases out of ATL would look like? I’m guessing SFO is the most junior base currently try?

are the upgrade times really still low?


TIA

I’ve flown with plenty of IAD commuters from ATL. Frontier, DAL and UAL service… use DCA and metro as a backup.

No. Apparently there is a large bid forthcoming; haven’t been many NB CA awards in several recent vacancies. NB CA is trending more senior, but SFO/EWR should remain a bit more junior. Indoc or probation junior? No.

The last NB bid we had was February and Airbus CA went to 2 year pilots. There have not been actual vacancies posted since then, except a couple backfills which are not an accurate measure of seniority when its one person backfilling. We should see vacancies coming quickly in the fall since we added a bunch of A-321s and 737 MAX 9s that weren't planned to be delivered just a month ago.

ATL either has 40 seats open, or you’re number 36 on the standby list, just hoping for the jumpseat.

or, there’s 40 seats open when you leave your house, and then it’s -12 by the time you get to the gate.

Isn’t that the truth. It will drive you crazy! ATL to EWR is not an easy commute. Delta won’t be much help either. Their flts up to the N.E. have more stbys than ours.😎

not to mention when they “cargo optimize “ and now they can’t take you because they’re over landing weight.

Pardon my ignorance because I’m sure it’s been mentioned on here as nauseum but what’s the commuter policy?

the short version is that you need two attempts. There’s a provision for positive space (like you buy a ticket, for example), then you need one attempt but it has to get in 90 mins prior to show.

It makes it better in some cases to not buy a ticket. You can show later.

ie I have two flights that leave one of my local airports on other airlines at 6:00 and 6:18 pretty much every day to my base. It means I can do 10 AM shows pretty easy.

If I buy a ticket on either I’m not covered under the commuter policy as it’s less than 90 minutes. Which is wild.

Buy the ticket, live wild :cool:

But if you buy a ticket on either AND list on the other there is no reasonable way to say you didn't comply. Because you are trying to get on two flights that get there before show.

ATL-DCA/IAD isn't awful. I did it for 5 years and missed exactly 2 flights to full jump seats. It's easier than EWR I'll say that.

Delta runs like 10 flights a day to DCA and 5-6 to IAD. Then AA Southwest and United all do 2-4 a day.

except DCA isn’t really junior right now. Almost no movement. EWR has tons of widebody people, plus travelers heading to the NY area or NY then [insert global destination].

IAH is the best bet for “junior” and commute. Still sucks, but it’s better than Newark or across the whole country to SFO.

In EWR I’ve seen more ATL commuters than any other airport and a lot of them are very senior…

On that note, how is a commute MCO-EWR these days? Living in MCO is it better to commute to EWR, ORD, or IAH?

EWR is hell. It’s delayed due to ATC like 90% of the time, and there are still lots of widebody pilots commuting, and lots of pax going back to NY to then go to [wherever].

last week I had a full plane and a jumpseater who’d been at UAL for like 28 years.

A lot of people say it’s hell, but I disagree. MCO-EWR has about 12-16 flights a day between 3 different carriers. I’ve never missed a commute. It gets tough if you commute mid-day during the week as senior WB folks are on the Tue-Fri schedule. Still, I manage and rarely go to my back up. I’m not even senior either.

YMMV depending on your bidding preference and (to a smaller degree) equipment.

I will say that afternoon to even flights have been delayed to ATC. Hopefully that gets fixed as time goes on

I wouldn’t bet the under on that. It is one of the constants of life.

Yes, it's a fact of life for Newark. When I was at ExpressJet in the late 2010s it was the same. Three hour delays for flow/EDCT were the norm for us, even with decent weather.

Back to the Topic on hand , any late June CJOs get a class date ?

I'm a mid August CJO and I got the email for the drug test a few minutes ago.

Wow, that was fast. Interviewed 8/12, class date 10/14. Excited to start.

Welcome on board! Suggest you wear a yellow suit with a black tie for your first day of class. (no, not really 🤭)

ACARS message



Are you willing to extend?

Congrats! I'll see you there!

Interview 8/13
CJO 8/18
Class date 10/14

Cool man. You Spirit?

Answered my own question.

8 weeks between CJO and Class. See you guys Oct 14.

As for training, can anyone post what the typical training footprint looks like? With a 10/14 start I'll be at TK at a minimum over Thanksgiving weekend; about when should I expect to be finished sims? Around end of December?

More likely late Nov. Sims take ~ 1 mth. Thanksgiving off will depend on OE (& who you do it with) since Holidays go senior here (5:15 Add Pay).

Welcome 👍🏻

Has there been a class drop in a while? Does anyone know if WB has been awarded at all recently or what the wait right now is to get there? (any base) Trying to weigh options at the moment for movement halfway through my career. Thanks!

EWR 756 goes really junior and might go to a NH at indoc. If not, you’ll most likely get it on your first or second vacancy bid

Widebodies haven't been offered to new hires in 2 years.

The junior FO widebody award on the current widebody vacancy is a late 2022 hire. It's gone really senior since things slowed to a trickle here for about a year. Both widebody FO vacancies and narrowbody CA vacancies have gone very senior lately, however conventional wisdom is that things will be moving again starting probably as soon as November when we're told to expect a large NBCA vacancy. With continued aircraft deliveries coming on a more consistent and predictable schedule, I expect things will rather quickly get back to what it looked like in 2022-23. I'm not predicting new hire CAs, but I think we will have enough WBFO vacancies and NBCA vacancies in the next 6-12 months that anyone who has been on property for more than a year would be able to hold either.

I think a lot of people held off on the NBCAs the last time around thinking things would continue as they had and they may be a little more willing to take it while it's available this time, which would keep it out of the new hire classes.

Standard caveat that I'm just a guy with a (probably incorrect) opinion.

Indoc is 2 weeks with the wing ceremony on the Friday of the second week. That following Monday and Tuesday is Initial Fleet Training (IFT).

At this point you might have 4 days to a couple of weeks off. Just depends on the schedule of the instructors and FTDs. During the “break”, you’ll get all the CBTs done, learn flows, and the FMS.

After that, you’ll come back to TK and do all your FTDs and take your SV and PV. After all that, you’ll do FFS where the MV and LOE are done.

A few days off and then OE where you’ll fly 25-30 hours then you’re done.

You’ll get 4-5 days on and 2-3 days off during training along with PS to and from TK if you choose to go home.

PM me if you have any questions!

Also you get paid laundry during training. So don’t drag your stuff back and forth and waste your time off at home doing laundry. There’s at least one local laundry service (it’s been a few years since I’ve done a long stint at TK for a transition course so there may be more) that will pick up and drop off at the front desk. Drop off on your way out the door and pick up when you get back. Submit expense. Easy.

This is far far from a trickle. This would be considered massive movement for 90% of the last 30 years.