Preferred A/C
 

I know there has been plenty of discussion about which A/C is better...737 vs A320...are there any opinions about which UAL A/C is better based more specifically around the trips each A/C flies?

Any airplane that doesnt end in "-guppy". If there were such a thing as daylight landing qualified, I wouldn't have been for most of this year as a reserve Captain. Redeye shenanigans doth abound in SFO and LAX; not so much on the 320 fwiw.

Agree fully with my friend Lerxst. I've flown both the Guppy and Fifi in SFO and the flying on Fifi is much better. Big however.... that can change on a dime around here.

Fifi is a much better place to spend time as well. More variety of destinations on the 737 and you'll be more senior, but my impression between the two is that quality of trips at 60% on the A320 list = 30% or so on the 737

Pardon my ignorance. Do you mean 60% of the trips on the A320 are quality...and 30% are quality on the 737... Meaning your opinion is the A320 is a better selection in this discussion?

The trips today will not be the trips in two years, and again in fours, etc. I've flown a Boeing since 1979. It's great except for the loud constantly spinning trim wheel, the massive yoke between the legs, the 80 db at cruise, and the 1961 Mercury space capsule size cockpit. There are many factors to consider, but if every other factor is equal, and you simply need a tie breaker, choose the work environment that is bigger, quieter, and doesn't have a constantly spinning millstone disk in it. After all, it's where you'll spend most of your time.

Concur with Lerxt, and especially APC. Never, in any part of your career, choose a base or aircraft based on a single trip, or count on what they do staying the same. By the time you get there, the trips have changed, or changed to a different aircraft, or worse, the base closes.

I think the best advice I ever heard, in hindsight, was to buy a house in the biggest base the airline has. Or, buy an RV.

I did neither. I think the RV would have been more fun. The house, more stable.

This.

UAL has an entire department, and they are actually running the show, that measures every potential city pair with a micrometer and changes aircraft size and frequency on a constant basis trying to extract every possible nickel of revenue. As a result nothing is static and flight ops, along with the rest of the airline, is in a constant crisis trying to keep up with the "plan."

A current example: there is a fundamental shift in aircraft routing methodology coming down the pike that will change many of the trips on the 737 and the 320 starting in January exclusive of marketing's shenanigans. The trips that you see today do not reflect what you will see in the spring.

I hope they build more of those Mexico City redeye turns I know you love!

Apologize for not being more clear. What I meant was that the types of trips that I fly at 30% on the 737 list are very similar to the trips I was getting at 60% on the Airbus list. 4 days with a red eye in there somewhere. As I, and others here, have pointed out though, the trips can change on a DIME. The A320 flying used to stink in SFO, and now it's really very good. So going forward it's crap shoot. The A320 is a MUCH better office to spend time in, but you are giving up a little seniority to fly it.... at least in the left seat. I confess to not being up to speed on how the seniority is now playing out on the right seat. Maybe someone else can chime in on that?

Here's a Top Gear Top Tip. Don't go to the strip clubs in MEX!!