USAir East latest bid

I'm a QOL guy. The 2nd year EMB-190 CA pays more, but you'll have a better schedule, but less "Bar Bragging Rights" as a 2nd year MD-88/90 FO.

I have a whole month off. My incremental pay increase as a A320 CA is inconsequential to having a month off with A330 FO pay and not sitting reserve in the Southeast.
I don't understand why more guys get this. QOL trumps everything. Who cares if you credited 100+ hours this month? I'm only working 12 days this month and I got to see my son's first football practice. Spent two weeks with my family without any drama and love it. No one is ever gonna say, "At the end of my career I wish I spent less time away from my family."
 
I don't understand why more guys get this. QOL trumps everything. Who cares if you credited 100+ hours this month? I'm only working 12 days this month and I got to see my son's first football practice. Spent two weeks with my family without any drama and love it. No one is ever gonna say, "At the end of my career I wish I spent less time away from my family."

I have no idea.

I could have held domestic captain almost a decade ago, but what does that mean? I'd be bragging on the Crowne Plaza hotel internet after my eighth leg rather than sitting at home saying "Calm down, Sparky, there's more to the numbers" on my couch here in 79F sunny Scottsdale.
 
Exactly. Most everyone agrees with this idea which is why hundreds passed up on the option of becoming an e190 captain.
 
Exactly. Most everyone agrees with this idea which is why hundreds passed up on the option of becoming an e190 captain.

I had a friend who upgraded to 737 captain at CAL fairly quickly, got a taste, and ran like hell back to the right seat.

Junior narrow body captain is pure "Fools Gold", trust me.

But they don't hear me though.
 
I'm surprised so many people bypassed the 767 that new hires will get it.

I'm not. We had new hires on the 767 and many folks held lines as well.

But then the tide came back and there were displacements and many folks sitting reserve, only to bid back to domestic narrowbody flying.

Remember the speeches about "ebb and flow" in the airline business some old man made? :)

Plus, you're staring down the pipe at a merger and another big "shift" in seniority. What's the point of heading to training, adding an extra stripe when, in a matter of months/years, you're going to be right back in training for the Super 80?
 
I'm surprised so many people bypassed the 767 that new hires will get it.
I'm kind of wondering if I should've bid the 767 only bc it would've checked off a few career goals, but I didn't bc I didn't want to stare at reserve forever. I guess I won't know if I made the right choice for a long time. I'm suprised it went unfilled as well though.
 
I'm not. We had new hires on the 767 and many folks held lines as well.

But then the tide came back and there were displacements and many folks sitting reserve, only to bid back to domestic narrowbody flying.

Remember the speeches about "ebb and flow" in the airline business some old man made? :)

Plus, you're staring down the pipe at a merger and another big "shift" in seniority. What's the point of heading to training, adding an extra stripe when, in a matter of months/years, you're going to be right back in training for the Super 80?

yuck "super" 80.

I'm kind of wondering if I should've bid the 767 only bc it would've checked off a few career goals, but I didn't bc I didn't want to stare at reserve forever. I guess I won't know if I made the right choice for a long time. I'm suprised it went unfilled as well though.

I have a buddy that took it last bid, he's junior to me. He said it was fun for the first 2 months but now he hates it because the jet lag in europe. Worst of all he is stuck on it for 18 months or whatever the seat lock is.
 
Edit: I meant to quote dergs post #19, but failed.

My response to post 19:

I agree qol is big and probably why I won't bid 190 captain.

However, I was responding to your "what does it pay "and "that's md80 pay" comments.

It was when I dispelled your thought of the pay being abysmal that you then went on to talk about qol.
 
Last edited:
yuck "super" 80.



I have a buddy that took it last bid, he's junior to me. He said it was fun for the first 2 months but now he hates it because the jet lag in europe. Worst of all he is stuck on it for 18 months or whatever the seat lock is.
Thanks for that info. That makes me feel a little better. Hoping it'll be around when my lock is up and can have more schedule control.
 
I'm kind of wondering if I should've bid the 767 only bc it would've checked off a few career goals, but I didn't bc I didn't want to stare at reserve forever. I guess I won't know if I made the right choice for a long time. I'm suprised it went unfilled as well though.

I was going back and forth on bidding the 767, too. After much debate, the difference in pay is negligible going from block holding Bus F/O to reserve 76I F/O. I'm not holding a block on the Bus, yet, but I definitely will on this bid. I only missed it by 20-something for Feb.

Two guys in my class held 190 Captain. More power to them. I don't need to be a Captain that badly. I was one for 5 years. I'm enjoying being back in the right seat.
 
When USAir went through it's last big hiring run in 1998/1999 the same thing happened. Guys in my seniority were close the Metrojet captain bids, new hires were going to the 767 right seat, etc A big part of the reason for that is training locks. Some guys just can't move. All the guys who returned from furlough were put in the right seat at Metrojet then a few months later new hires started getting right seat on the 767. That made a few unhappy people.

I hear the QOL arguments and that works great as long as the uptrend continues. But let's play a game of "what if". What if some new global financial catastrophe hits and the airlines in the USA backslide again? Who's gonna get that overseas captain job, the guy who has 500 PIC in an EMB-190 or the the guy who was right seat in an A320?


Typhoonpilot
 
yuck "super" 80.



I have a buddy that took it last bid, he's junior to me. He said it was fun for the first 2 months but now he hates it because the jet lag in europe. Worst of all he is stuck on it for 18 months or whatever the seat lock is.

They're probably doing the same unproductive stuff that CAL guys in my EWR crashpad were. I was a total newb at XJT and would see them come in at noon from Glasgow or Shannon or whatever, looking completely exhausted in every way...note to self...don't bid international someday if bidding 90%.

Junior trips on the 757/767 out of anywhere in the northeast only credit 15-17 hours going to the British Isles and back.

If someone wants a 75 hour line, they need to do 5 trips.

Five all nighters eastbound.

Five days of waking up at midnight home time to fly back. Most of them, at the time anyway, not with any relief pilot!

What's the point of being at the bottom of that thing's list??

Now, if one lives in base and got called for a trip like that once in a while but sat around at home most of the time, then I could see bidding it sooner making sense.
 
Five days of waking up at midnight home time to fly back. Most of them, at the time anyway, not with any relief pilot!

What's the point of being at the bottom of that thing's list??
.

Dude, they are "wide body" Pilots!

But seriously, I was debating it as well and I figured why rush into this.

Do any majors still have the "up or out" clauses?

I don't know but that was something I was thinking about as well. The 767 is a hard airplane to learn and fly. You have to learn all this new stuff about plotting tracks and reporting positions on the hf radio. That and actually having to re-learn how to trim and use the throttles and go back to steam gauges was all very overwhelming.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top