Sitting RSV/commute from BOS
 

Unhappy days here at NK… CBA concessions announced yesterday so I’m looking to bail on my 10+ years and cushy schedule. Sounds like they’ll be gutting the QOL and pay, so a career reset is suddenly palatable.

My question for the UA gang- I’ve got roots in BOS, and would love to hop on the growth and retirement train at UA, which seems like the best ladder to climb of the three legacies at my age (36).

My only hesitation for UA is committing to a lifetime of commuting. DL has the new 330 base in BOS which is about 10 years before I’d hold it, and AA has a tiny and stagnant 737 base here, but would be a 10-15 year upgrade.

I am basically wondering what RSV and commuting realities are for EWR. Would LCR realistically work sitting in BOS? I’ve done the ORD commute before and it wasn’t awful, but I knew it was temporary. I’ve sampled the BOS-EWR commute at NK and I think it gave me PTSD. Any sort of work rules or seniority progression I should be considering when it comes to the EWR base in particular? Apps are going out and I know the turnaround times are fast these days so I want to be prepared in case the first world problem happens and I have a choice.

Thanks in advance

I see 8 direct flights from BOS to EWR tomorrow, all on mainline. There are plenty of open seats, but it is the low season for travel so take that with a grain of salt.

You could make it work pretty easily and upgrading will be the easiest at EWR. You obviously couldn't sit short call reserve from BOS but you could bid a LCL reserve line which go very junior and thus avoid worrying about short call.

I say do it. You're still pretty young, all things considered.

From Boston, yes, you can sit long call. You can realistically sit long call from just about anywhere. The issue is how often you are converted to SC as you'd have to do that in EWR. How often that happens nowadays, I'm not sure. That being said, you'd be on reserve for a short time. If you decided to take an early upgrade, you'd then be on reserve for a lot longer. Newark is a dumpster fire so it has one of the best seniority progressions in the system on the 737. On the bus, it's relatively stagnant, but that is pretty much the same everywhere since the fleet is so much smaller and people tend to hang out and die there.

Not at UAL but from the Boston area (Carver) and live in NJ.

I've been up either on the south shore or at my aunts on the cape on LC with no problem. (We have similar LC rules)

I'll let a UA guy speak to the legalities of air commuting but depending on where in the metro you are, the ground commute isn't too bad, time wise.

From my parents house in Carver to the employee lot at EWR is 244 miles and 4:18 if I left right now. The BOS-EWR flight is about 1:30 gate to gate, and even if dropped off 1 hour to push curbside it's 2:30. Then add in your drive to BOS then parking.

With our commuting rules (DL, ask a UA guy to chime in on their specifics) It's always shorter to drive (1 hour to logan no traffic and no parking, just mom dropping me off at curb) than to try to air commute.

If coming from north shore or able to take the T, then flying may pencil out better.

But for the few weeks a year I'm either in Carver or down the cape, I drive.

A long call only reserve line (LCL) could be sat easily from BOS. Only caveat to that is you are going to get used for flying first so you’ll probably end up commuting down more but at least you have lots of heads up and you know you are going to fly. Obviously EWR can be driven if needed and the train may be an option as well. IAD/ORD may also be good options when you get more senior and can hold a line in either. Not sure how many commuters between either of those and BOS (and driving/train is pretty much off the table) but they’re both short flights.

LCL could be an option, but IDK how senior it goes on the EWR FO side. All in all it's an 18 hour callout that drops to 14 between 1015-1359 LBT, and you can't be forced into a short call. The catch is you will be the first priority to be used in that day silo, so if there's a long call reserve, traditional reserve or voluntary early check reserve with 3 days of reserve left, and there's a 3 day trip open that needs to be covered, the LCL is going to be assigned the trip. So you'll work more than other reserve pilots, but you'll have more lead time to get to work, and you get a 1or 2 hour head start when reserve assignments open up so you can pick the better of the open trips if you see you're going to be used anyways. Also when you upgrade to CA you get 1 year of positive space travel, you can also get a paid move to base if you want to temporarily trim back those roots.

The downside is you cannot reserve the jumpsuit unlike other legacies, so if a commute is tight you won't know until the cabin door closes if you actually have a seat or not.

Thanks for all the input. The long call only lines have seemed like the right choice, even if getting used first or more frequently. Would there be any advantage to bidding a traditional long call line and dealing with the SC conversions? I am trying to maximize time at home for family reasons, but would love to regain left seat wages at the first opportunity. The 737 seems to have rapid growth but EWR having a high pain in the ass index, especially on RSV has me worried.

BOS 737 Jr. CA is 5 years (DOH 12/19)—Jr. FO is 4 months (DOH 5/25). 223 pilots total.

imo when talking about how junior a base is or isn’t, context is key. The plug is not enough information. I think we can all agree that a base with a new hire as the plug who can anticipate sitting right seat for 12 years (vs other bases being 3-4 years) is would never be called “junior.”

Not saying that’s the comparison just illustrating my point. Need the full picture.

I was just providing factual data—not some hearsay. I’m impressed with how much you completely misinterpreted my post though. AA BOS is not Jr.—I never said it was Jr.