Base Seniority to be a Line Holder
 

Hi ya'll, CJO holder here. Spoke with a bunch of my peers who interviewed with me and we all intend on going to different bases at some point (SFO, LAX, DEN, GUM, etc.) and we were all curious to know how long to hold a line at each base.

Can anybody shed some light on this? Let's just say 737 for each to keep it simple.

TIA

Exact timeframe is impossible to say but the order you show for bases is accurate….. soonest for SFO and so on.

Yep copy all, I suppose we're just looking for a rough estimate, not exact.

less than a year? Or maybe more, depending on where you’re at and how people above you decide to bid.

lots of junior people get lines because reserve has improved, so senior people bid it.

it’s really an impossible thing to answer, though.

To the point where in some bases junior guys are forced into a line some months.

Things that will make a difference

1) seasonality - more lines summer than winter
2) hire rate - Even in a busy hiring year, there might be 3 months where 800 pilot get hired and 3 months with 100. That could make several months difference getting a line
3) base - big coastal bases quicker than interior hubs quicker than the 737 only outstations
4) senior people bidding reserve (which does happen now)

If everything comes together you could have a line your first month off IOE. Tip a few options against you and it might be a year. This doesn't consider bases where it currently takes significant seniority to even be the plug (eg MCO)

in my base the question is how senior do you have to be to NOT hold a line…….

so is it safe to say you can get 737 line out of LAX pretty quick?

Yes. With all the caveats listed above, in January #184 in base with a18,2XX seniority number has a line, and there’s maybe 5 people below that person on reserve plus maybe a dozen more that have trips on their schedule after the IOE blocked off days so maybe you
can call that a partial line for the first month.

The real question is do you have a better QOL on reserve during a slow month, or chasing a line and getting whatever is left over at the end of the line?

Agree that is the real question!!! LAX is an awesome base, great peeps!

In Unity and Happy Holidays...