Sliceback

That's a 'fact' lacking any real data (AA retiring 2x in the next decade). The outdated APC retirement data has DL having approx. 5300 retirements in the next decade and AA having 7400(newer AA data is 7100). Rough math. Even that data's poor (outdated) but it's not 2x the retirement rate at AA. I'd do the actual leg work on what the real data is if I were analyzing one over the other.

But does the actual difference matter? Some of the "which airline to I go to" using overall retirement data is a bit pointless if you want to live in a specific area or base. If you're going to live near a Big 3 airline's base, that doesn't have nearby alternatives (basically NYC, Chicago, or LAX), the home town airline is your #1, #2, and #3 choice.

wankel7

Between Delta and AA which one would could you do 7 on 7 off or even 14 on 14 off?

velosnow

Doesn't easily exist given FAR constraints depending on the fleet and seniority. Probably can't do that much narrow body flying but widebody you can make that work.

With a widebody schedule you can essentially do a week on/off with 6 and 7 day trips. Have a buddy that commutes from Asia and comes over for two weeks at a time as well.

FangsF15

At DL, it is 100% possible to do this on reserve. There is a small chance you might get "coverage" awards which will prevent 14 straight days off in some months, on occasion. (basically, someone has to work the weekend, and if they don't get enough bids for it, you might be forced into the occasional weekend day, especially when junior). But now that staffing has more or less normalized, I would expect that you can accomplish 14 straight days off with little difficlulty. And regular 7-day stretches of reserve are extremely likely except in the rarest of circumstances, especially if you are a little flexible with your days off. With even a little seniority, it's not a problem at all.

BTW, reserve rules at DL are so good, reserve sometimes goes senior. I bid reserve by choice as a middle third Captain, and average less than 10 days of work per month, and mid-90's hours of pay per month - though the trend is downward on pay hours... The most I've worked in the last 2 years has been 13 days, and that only once. Before that, even when I was a (fairly senior to senior) FO, I was still only working 10-11 days a month. Work smarter, not harder.

StoneQOLdCrazy

lol

Come on, guys. You know damn well Delta pilots are a bunch of joyless robots. Humor of any kind is not tolerated.

ImSoSuss

Not sure why but AA's retirement numbers tend to be exaggerated on these forums when compared to the other legacies. My only explanation is people are still going off numbers they have been hearing for years pre-COVID and are still running with it without researching the latest data. Fact is that a lot of those retirements already happened and yes, AA still leads the way by retirements, but not as much as people think. In addition 6000 people have already been hired within the last few years that is going to fill the few highly desirable positions at AA for decades to come. When you take in account the continuing expansion plans of DL and especially UA, and the meager expansion AA has in comparison, that pretty much counteracts the retirement numbers.

ImSoSuss

Obviously Mil based on the types of questions he asked. Does not know yet what is actually important in choosing an airline and it certainly is not the "routes".

ImSoSuss

Not a thing for most Part 121 airlines. If you want that go Fractional or Cargo.

m3113n1a1

It's 100% a thing at Delta...with barely a tiny bit of seniority you can do 7 on 7 off or 14 off 17 on on reserve. And with more seniority you can do it with a line by bidding for 30 hour layovers.

TallyTarget64

sounds like you want to work at Netjets not AA or DL.