Pilots wife,

When opportunity knocks the first thing you do is open the door and let it in. Change is always scary and there is never a risk free option in this or any other business. All we can do is take the current constants and base our decisions on them. What we do know at moment is we appear to be on the verge of hiring explosion. If you are on the leading edge of that explosion you will be up and out of the mud of juniority in record time. If you wait to see if things are going to get better you may well be relegated to regional life from now on. Risk vs reward.

Let me just quickly share my situation with you. I was hired towards the back side of the UAL mid 90's hiring boom in 1997. I was on reserve for about 8 months. Within 3 years I was a top end line holder on the 737 in Denver. I then took a bid and was holding a line on the 777 in SFO with just over three years seniority. 9-11 happened and I coasted for about a year before going into a cycle of vicious seniority swings. I went from being a 777 FO to being back on reserve as a 737 FO, back to the 777 only to be chucked down to the 320 as an FO back to the 777 as an FO then to the captains seat on the 320 then back to the FO position on the 756 where I currently sit on reserve.

Guys and gals who were hired just one and a half years prior to me are holding captain seats or wide body FO seats. Guys hired a year after me are furloughed.

The point of all this is you always want to be on the leading edge of a hiring wave. The middle or the back side is where you are apt to find severe career turbulence, if there is another melt down. I'd say you guys have a golden leading edge opportunity here, what you do with it is up to you.

Exactly. ............

Pilots Wife,

I'm with the group that say you guys should take the offer. There are no guarantees out there for certain, and someone already mentioned Comair.

Ask yourselves if you stay where you're at where you'll be in 15 years if everything goes well at your current airline. Now, ask yourselves the same question with regard to where you think you'll be in 15 years if he takes the United offer.

Again, no one can guarantee what will happen with the airline, the economy, etc. But being on the front of the wave of hiring should provide a significant advantage to taking the legacy option. Timing is everything.

Take care,
Lee

Take the job and don't look back. Your husband has a good, solid job today but trust me when I say that he wants to move on with his career. If he didn't, he would't have jumped through the hoops to get the ucal position.

He'll be at the bottom of the list at ual, which means he have nowhere to look but forward. He can look forward to better pay, better retirement, flying different airplanes(320,737,757,767,777,747,787,350), better layovers, eventual upgrades.

What does he have to look forward to at a regional? Nothing. From where he's perched it can only get worse.

Furlough? Always possible. Given the amount of pilots retiring at all airlines, even if smisek screws it up he can probably land a job at delta, American, swa, etc.

Congratulate him on getting hired and move forward.

LNL,

I am letting my husband make this decision...it is not mine to make. I will support whatever he chooses. I am just trying to get information that might make his decision easier. He was "hired" by United in 2008 for one minute...literally. Thank God he never had the opportunity to take the job at that time or he would have been furloughed the past 4+ years. He was contacted by them out of the blue 2 weeks ago. So to the guy who said why did he apply (APC225)...well he did back in 2007 or 08. But he hasn't been sitting around for the past 4 years waiting for them to call....so the fact they did was kind of a shock...and hence the confusion in making this decision. It is very helpful to hear stories from all of you of how you got to where you are now. He does not hate the company he works for like a lot of regional pilots do but he is sick of people saying oh this is a "small airplane" and thinking that their lives are at risk because they are flying on a regional and of course it is every pilots dream to fly a "BIG JUMBO JET"!!!

This might come across as harsh, but if he doesn't take the job, he gets what he deserves in this career. A regional isn't a destination or stand alone company... it's just a vendor dependent on whatever major(s) it attaches itself to by underbidding the other regionals. It's an ever downward cycle and when the majors don't need you, they'll throw you away and you'll be out on the street... ask the former Independence Air pilots. Seniority is nice and I'm sure your life right now is "comfortable" but that comfort isn't nearly as secure as you think... ask the former Comair pilots. I've never heard of a regional pilot who believed they made the right move by staying at a regional unless they were very old or had no other options.

Life at a major will be tough at first... if you've got kids (expensive) and you don't work (significantly reduced income) it'll be tough at first. There's no guarantee against furlough at UAL, though at this point in the cycle I find it highly unlikely. Notice how many have said stay at the regional? The reality is you have no choice.

And look, even you took the job at L-CAL:D

Tpw,

Your husband would be absolutely crazy, in my opinion, not to take this opportunity that is being given to him. The "regionals" have peaked out at what they once were, as 50-seat jets are being replaced by fewer 70-ish seat jets. Mainline carrier scope clauses going forward are going to dictate a draw down of some of the regional flying.

As everyone here as stated, this is the beginning of the hiring wave and he needs to jump in now...not wait. Yes, once seniority list integration occurs, hiring will come to a halt for a period of time until the final UAL furloughees decide what they wish to do. As such, your husband will sit near the bottom of the list for a period of time before movement starts up again. Many of us experienced that same situation.

When I had the opportunity to come to L-CAL, I took it. I was in the top 10% in seniority of my previous carrier, a regional. I had the schedules I wanted, could avoid the places I hated, and was making decent money for my situation. In the end, though, a regional is not where I wanted to be for my career. I had to take a more than 50% pay cut to come to L-CAL. Yes, the first year was difficult, but it has been worth it and will only get better.

While you are there to support him and will respect his decision, I would also say this is a decision that you two need to make together as a family. Even ALPA has "family awareness" events for a reason: we are not in this alone and are not the only ones affected by the job. I'd strongly encourage him to read these responses and listen to the advice of others to take the job.

I also agree that getting based on the west coast is very likely within two years. It will end up being more junior than EWR if you ask me.

SFO has historically been one of the most Jr bases in the UAL system. There is good flying out of SFO on some fleets HOWEVER the cost of living in the bay makes it a tough place to live. LAX also tends to be fairly Jr. but not as Jr. as SFO.

As a pilot that lives out West and hopeful to get on with United at some time, this is great news! It just shocks me how Senior anything West goes for Delta and American but NOT for United apparently. Please keep the trend up for the hopeful pilots waiting in line!