sailingfun

One mans trash is another mans treasure. I am not the smartest bulb and once forgot to bid. Got a line of mostly uncommutable 3 day trips worth 12 hours each before we got the 5:15 minimum. Dropped every one via the swap board. It’s always worth posting it. The worst that can happen is nothing.

BobZ

Its not enough of an issue between the two airlines to base a decision on.

If there is even going to be a decision to be made.

The basic variable in schudule control is senority. And that will hold pretty constant at any airline.

There are +/- for each choice. This issue shouldnt even be in the mix.

Skyward

SWA guy here. I had PBS at my old airline (I admit it’s not nearly as robust as DAL’s, but still a decent PBS), and I have line bidding now at SW. I much prefer the line bidding. I’m very junior, and I never have less than 17-18 days off. PBS is only as good as your seniority, whereas line bidiing gets me 16, 17, 18... right out of the gate every time. Then, I can tweak it and move stuff around pretty easily. I can usually always get 18 days and weekends off eventhough my seniority cannot bid that. Sure, there are things that could be improved, but overall I really like line bidding at SWA.

The flexibility is good because we have one aircraft type and can trade/give away across bases. With 9200 pilots, thats roughly 4600 pilots in your category. Not all of those are active and trading of course, but you can see how it opens up lots of opportunities. Also, SWA posts a vacancy bid every month, so you can change your domicile with the seasons if you like.

I am a commuter though, but the one-flight commuter policy on SW aircraft and high frequency out of my commuter city ease the commute.

Both are great choices, and I don’t think you can go wrong with either. It depends on where you want to live, what type of flying you want to do and which company you think is a better fit for you.

TED74

... But what's NOT constant is how much control you have over your seniority. At SWA, you can only control your seniority by moving bases (and even that adjustment has limited effect). If you don't commute (and even if you do), that's not an easy adjustment. At Delta, you have category movements available to "choose your own adventure." With 3 years under your belt, you might have the choice to sit at 99% in category A or 25% in category B.

NotMrNiceGuy

I hear this pretty regularly, but is it still true at this point? I only hear about upgrading at Delta in two years on the MD, but if that’s going away in 2020, do guys level up on the 717 or 737 in that same time frame? I just ran the retirement numbers using the data from APC, and if the status quo is maintained for both Delta and SWA, a 2018 hire would be 60% at both airlines in 2024. Of course there’s no way to know the economic situation over the next six years, but even so, overall Seniority doesn’t differ that significantly.

OOfff

737 LAX went to just over 3 year seniority in the bid last year.

OOfff

16-18 off was a normal junior lineholder schedule on the 717 when I was on it. I easily manage that now on another fleet, too. I don’t see many people working harder than that without choosing to

WhiskeyDelta

DTW 717 and NYC 737 & 320 are all around 3 years, too.

WhiskeyDog

I've been at DAL just over 3 years. Assuming I didn't care about the base, the only right seats I can't hold are 777 and 350. For the left seat I could hold 717, 88, 320, and almost 73. As you could imagine NYC is where the larger "relative" seniority occurs, for the most part.

Baradium

60% at an airline with only one fleet type is going to net you a different upgrade timeframe than 60% at an airline with multiple fleet types as there will always be people who take the seniority hit to upgrade onto the higher paying equipment or remain FO on the larger equipment rather than upgrade into smaller.