Morbid curiosity. Upgrade times?

[ZapBrannigan]

Out of curiosity, what’s the crashpad situation like in OAK for you guys? I will be doing reserve out there next fall, and am tempted to just do hotels unless there are some really nice crashpads. I’m absolutely not doing the regional pilot bunk bed crap again.

There’s really no crashpads unless you have wheels. Hotels can be expensive especially when there is a game. Check out Crew-tel

 

[ZapBrannigan]

If the music stops?

Wouldn’t there be displacement bid(s) then? Or are you saying just no more vacancy bids? I guess it depends on how bad a music stop scenario is.

There could be a displacement bid. Guess I’m assuming that they would tap the brakes as opposed to shrink domiciles and furlough pilots. That seems less likely especially considering the shortage. But it’s always possible.

During Covid there were a handful of displacements as they grew some bases at the expense of others, but in general those bids were just net zero.

 

[GypsyPilot]

There’s really no crashpads unless you have wheels. Hotels can be expensive especially when there is a game. Check out Crew-tel

Yeah, CrewTel is what I was looking at. Just wondering how reliable that is.

 

[roundout]

Yeah, CrewTel is what I was looking at. Just wondering how reliable that is.

CrewTel is awesome! But commuting to sit reserve in a hotel? Hard pass, dawg.

 

[Cherokee_Cruiser]

Commuting to reserve sucks. But, it’s Southwest. The rumor I heard is y’all get 15 days off on reserve. If that’s true, I assume 5 on, 5 off, that might not be too bad.

Flip side, kids are only kids for 18 yrs. Sounds like you’re at 16 now. What’s another 2 yrs? Put another way, you’ll never look back and wish you had LESS time with them growing up.

I get the career FO thing. I was FO for 11 yrs before finally touching a left seat. I thought at Walmart you were a Capt?

 

[MikeD]

Well, that escalated quickly. According to the latest vacancy projection my class is eligible for OAK Captain on the July bid. I’ve been here 8.5 years. Lots to consider.

Pros:

• Be in the left seat before any more black swan events or the increase to age 67
• Sick time / disability pays at Captain rates
• Bump in 401K contributions, profit sharing etc.
• Career goals. Not getting any younger. I turn 49 in Oct.

Cons:

• 3-4 hour commute over several time zones
• Lose control over schedule - back to weekend reserve
• Lose at least one day off per week to commuting
• Cost of commuter hotels, Uber etc
• Lost seniority for vacation bidding
• 6 months ETOPS domicile lock (OAK, LAX, LAS)
• Away from home during son’s last two years of high school

Big question is where do I want to be if the music stops today, junior left seat or senior right seat? And will I have regrets if I choose to bypass, and then the music stops due to age 67, recession, another pandemic, a merger….?

Easy solution. Just move to OAK, or nearby! Live in base!

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Commuting to reserve sucks. But, it’s Southwest. The rumor I heard is y’all get 15 days off on reserve. If that’s true, I assume 5 on, 5 off, that might not be too bad.

Flip side, kids are only kids for 18 yrs. Sounds like you’re at 16 now. What’s another 2 yrs? Put another way, you’ll never look back and wish you had LESS time with them growing up.

I get the career FO thing. I was FO for 11 yrs before finally touching a left seat. I thought at Walmart you were a Capt?

Reserve is 15/16 depending on the length of the month. Lines are built with 3 or 4 day blocks of reserve, either AM or PM. So the trouble comes when you cant get there in time for that PM reserve block to start, so you commute out the day prior. And you can’t get back in time to catch the last flight home, so you commute home the day after. Then only get one full day off at home. No bueno.

I was a Captain at Walmart, but so was virtually everyone else except for new hires in their first few years. Scheduling would just randomly assign who was PIC for the trip. So about 50% of the time you were Captain, 50% of the time you were FO. It’s really not the same as being a 121 Captain.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Easy solution. Just move to OAK, or nearby! Live in base!

The thought has crossed my mind, and may be in the cards, but not until the kiddo leaves for college.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

CrewTel is awesome! But commuting to sit reserve in a hotel? Hard pass, dawg.

Reserves at this company don’t sit. it’s pretty rare to have a day that you don’t get used.

 

[Cherokee_Cruiser]

The thought has crossed my mind, and may be in the cards, but not until the kiddo leaves for college.

Do NOT leave TX for CA. Are you just tryin to get me started?

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Do NOT leave TX for CA. Are you just tryin to get me started?

You know how you sometimes feel out of place because so few of your neighbors and elected Representatives share your worldview?

Thats how I feel in Texas.

(interestingly, never felt that way in Arkansas. Guess they were either a whole lot better at live and let live, or it was a different time)

 

[Cherokee_Cruiser]

You know how you sometimes feel out of place because so few of your neighbors and elected Representatives share your worldview?

Thats how I feel in Texas.

(interestingly, never felt that way in Arkansas. Guess they were either a whole lot better at live and let live, or it was a different time)

The Dee Eff DoubleYa area seemed cool, Flower Mound area at least.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

The Dee Eff DoubleYa area seemed cool, Flower Mound area at least.

Yeah, we are on the other side of the lake in Grapevine. Cool little town, we like it for the most part - as much as anyone can like nondescript big city. We miss Bentonville and Pittsburgh. Liked both more than north Texas.

 

[GypsyPilot]

CrewTel is awesome! But commuting to sit reserve in a hotel? Hard pass, dawg.

Well I should be holding a secondary line next year, and OAK is going to be mostly APAC flying with mostly single departure lines with lots of double deadheads.

It was just too hard for me to pass up widebody CA, and FedEx has bids that can take as long as 18 months. The pay increase makes using some hotel rooms negligible.

 

[arkflyr]

Yeah, CrewTel is what I was looking at. Just wondering how reliable that is.

Crew-Tel has been great for me in Denver, even though they lost my favorite hotel it is still pretty good. Between them and ID90 Travel app I haven't had any trouble.

 

[Sculprit]

The thought has crossed my mind, and may be in the cards, but not until the kiddo leaves for college.

Sacramento and the surrounding suburbs are pretty nice. Not a terrible drive to OAK either.

 

[GypsyPilot]

Crew-Tel has been great for me in Denver, even though they lost my favorite hotel it is still pretty good. Between them and ID90 Travel app I haven't had any trouble.

Awesome, thanks!! I will check out the ID90 app.

 

[Cherokee_Cruiser]

Yeah, we are on the other side of the lake in Grapevine. Cool little town, we like it for the most part - as much as anyone can like nondescript big city. We miss Bentonville and Pittsburgh. Liked both more than north Texas.

Grapevine is cool too! You moved there?

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Grapevine is cool too! You moved there?

Yeah been here about 6 years. We are about a mile from Main Street where all of the bars and restaurants are.

 

[Maximilian_Jenius]

Grapevine is cool too! You moved there?

Colleyville