gloopy

It is pretty funny. I'm really glad for todays New Hires and the "buyers market" they find themselves in, the choices they have and the rapid advancement they currently enjoy. But I don't get the fake angst about little things to that extent.

artlight

It really is wild to see. I'm not even talking old man stuff here "back in my day" etc. As recently as 2019 I think there's at least a few that would have killed someone (if they thought they could get away with it) to have a job at a legacy. 2016 was the same but to an even greater extent. A guy at my regional in 2013 got hired at age 35 at United and it was like...an enormous, monumental event. Tons of people from the base, pilots and flight attendants alike were congratulating this guy and leaving notes and cards in his V file. You pounded the pavement hard, made all the rounds at WIA, fast passes, career fairs, shelled out thousands on interview prep, bought $600 brief cases to show up to their interviews with. I'm not complaining, ultimately it is good that the pendulum has swung and managements have to fight for pilots for a change. My feelings are just more amazement. Now you can get hired at age 25 at Delta and at the time in your life where you don't have a spouse and kids and tons of obligations go be NYC based and make captain pay after you've been on property for a year. But if the 737 is in the drop then they write about it in their new book titled:

ScopingItOut

The drops are posting how far out before classes? It looks to be about a week. But planes aren't assigned till you're at your class, right? So you'd be gambling on the odds of your SSN. The 220 is on my radar if needed.

Justabusdriver1

With my ss# I should have my choice of basically any equipment provided it’s in the drop. I’m curious on the qol and what to expect on the 330 350 and 320. Reading through threads I have an idea of what the 320 looks like. But I’m curious on what the time to hold a line would be in atl. Expected trip types/lengths, reserve usage and average monthly credit and block. Anything else you’d like to to help make my decision more informed. I currently fly the 320 at my current carrier and am happy on it so I wouldn’t mind staying on nb. I plan to move to atl within a few months so either living in base or swapping bases down the road to atl if I don’t get it initially.

tennisguru

Aircraft assignments are made prior to people showing up for class.

HandFlyorDie

Junior ATL320B REG (line holder) pilot is a 20SEP22 hire…roughly 3-5 months of actual time on reserve after training IOE etc. That will trend lower until September, then go more senior until the holidays.

Junior line holders fly 3-4 day weekend trips that are usually worth around min ADG (15:45 & 21:00 hrs) most likely be four trips on all four weekend blocks for 71-79 hours and 15-17 days off. Credit and block are usually very close on the 320 esp. ATL. Need to be senior to get good credit to block ratio on that fleet.

Being junior on reserve here is ok…it’s not first in first out so expect to be abused on the weekends until you fly enough to be in a different “bucket”. Usually need two three days or a five day trip to hit bucket 2 where you won’t get used unless you’re the only option or someone senior to you ends up in bucket 2.

Training will be a breeze…living base makes reserve really easy, just try to knock your short calls out on the weekdays.

Good luck!

FangsF15

I’ll let others weigh in on the current life on the 330/350, however…

I will say many believe that WB will not continue to go to NH‘s into the future (new contract/pay banding/ horrid NB schedules, etc). You may, may end up finding yourself very Junior on the 330/350 for a very long time. So buyer beware of that risk. If you are good with that, go for it! It’s a great gig!

Justabusdriver1

I don’t mind being junior that much. I don’t care about weekends or holidays off. I just get my schedule and when I’m working I’m working, don’t necessarily care much about the destinations either. The one thing I can do without are straight red eyes. Just curious what life on wb vs nb are like and how they differ. Do people who have been on both have a preference and why. I prefer to actually work 3+ day trips. Ideally I think I’d like to do 330 or 350 at some point. But if it’s available during indoc as someone who will have their choice just curious what life would be like on the various fleets. 5mo reserve in base ain’t bad on nb. But if it’s gonna be years of reserve on wb that might be a big difference and reason to go nb first.

DocVoliday

Not to throw a wrench in your plans/planning, but even a -99xx SS may not be awarded your first pick. Previous Delta employees in your class get first picks (moved to the top of the list no matter what their SS# is) and recent classes have had anywhere from one to six previous D employees per class who bump those high SS# back a few picks down the list. Recently these have included former FAs, gate agents, baggage handlers, cabin cleaners, Propel participants and others who previously were Delta employees who are now hired as pilots (but have a previous employee number).

FlexManFlex

It depends. Some months the 330/350 have lines that go all the way to the most junior pilot, other months the most junior line will be at 5 year pilots. I know NYC330B will take about a year to hold a line, however, that’s currently around 90% so if things go like I think they will, there will be no more new hires getting the 330 or 350. This could mean you’ll be in NYC330 stuck on reserve for the next couple of years.

Currently there are no other 330/350 openings. Just NYC330 and even that may have ran out (the last new hire class got a couple spots I read). It’s up to you. Red eyes are mixed in with the 320 fleet in every base. A lot of senior pilots seem to like them so odds are you won’t even have to worry about them. I am 20-30% in my category and I bid for red eyes and I cannot hold them unless I work over the weekend. (Granted I have a lot of other bid preferences in before “award red eyes.”)

The next AE is in a couple weeks so that’ll change everything! Most guesses are the days of NEWBIES getting the 330/350 are over. I’d bet on street CAs before I would say a new hire will see a wide body moving forward. Some NB trips have become 4-leg, 12 hour overnights for 4-5 days straight with a red eye in the middle to a 10 hour day layover so it’s either RJ-style trips with a mid rotation red eye or wide bodies, relaxing, one and done kind of trips.

Unless our pilot group is completely nuts, I’d bet wide bodies will be going to 4+ year pilots on this next AE so basically the question shouldn’t be “WB vs NB FO”, it should be “NB FO vs NB CA” for new hire openings. This is all just my opinion.