Your plan sounds legit, but be careful listening to the melodramatics on this board as to the "dwindling" of Delta's international flying (especially from the NYC market).
This TA actually puts in a floor to limit to the amount of flying as a % of seats in the Atlantic plus a world wide block hour floor, all with much shorter lookback time-frames instead of this contract-long measure/fix period currently in place.
As Mark Twain has said, "The reports of the death of international flying at Delta have been greatly exaggerated." or something to that effect.

That being said, if you can significantly reduce your drive in the NE by going to EWR vs JFK/LGA for your career (assuming you plan on staying in the NE) then I guess leaving your wife with the crappy commute while you waltz to work may not be a bad overall move. UAL has consolidated almost all their eggs into the EWR basket (for the NYC market) so that makes commuting pretty predictable.

Congrats with your truly first-world problem though. Dual legacy pilot couples with young kids, better get a great nanny (I recommend not too hot if you want it to last) and a smart accountant!....I don't know how you do it, and I wish you the best.

 

Which company is going to be in the better position to handle the next major downturn in this industry?

https://www.thestreet.com/story/1385...-analysts.html

 

The golden ticket is still getting hired by one of the big four... So once you get your seniority number at one of them it becomes more/more difficult each day that your on property to jump ship. I'd say the only way I'd personally jump ship is that the other airline has a domicile that is where you want to live... Because commuting generally sucks.

 

Why would you turn down an interview if you want to work there?

Chances are if DAL is furloughing during the next downturn UAL will be to so I wouldn't view them as a lifeboat option for your future.

Get an offer then consider the jump. don't sweat it until you get an offer. Don't decide until you get a class date.

 

I don't think it would be burning a bridge to go through the hiring process with United. I think you'd only burn a bridge if you accept a class date and don't give United reasonable notice that you won't be showing up to class if you decide to stay with Delta. Part of the process is about you interviewing United too to see if it's a good fit.

 

Where do you live or want to live? I think that's the biggest question here. I know it's a dead horse, but not commuting and living where you WANT to live is the biggest quality of life improvement anyone will ever get.

In the end the novelty of a particular airline and aircraft WILL wear off. Choose the airline that will have you home the most for a given amount of pay. You'll never regret choosing your family over an additional $500k in your 401k.

 

Read my post. I'm local to NYC hubs

 

Read the post I was replying to. Tunes asked if someone should leave with 1300 below them.

 

Oh wait, I get it. That's a rhetorical question.

 

I'm Delta, live in NJ. As you mentioned, the drive to JFK/LGA sucks, but we do have flights out of EWR. I'm on the ER and bid those almost exclusively now. I'm told we have a fair share of 320 time out of EWR too. I'd definitely interview, if you get the job its a nice decision to have to make either way.