DMH1967

I interviewed this past week for DEC, and I'm pretty confident I'll get an offer. I live in SoCal, and am typed in the E175 already, so would chose that aircraft. Having looked at the seniority map for bases, it shows the lowest CA at LAX as 03/22. That gives a reference point, but there are other factors that impact time to getting into base more. At the major I retired from, when I bid to LAX I was 18 months junior to the bottom Captain there. 5 years later I was still 18 months junior to the bottom Captain, because there was zero movement at the base, and it took me 11 years at the company to upgrade, vs 3-5 years had I stayed at one of the junior bases.

So my question for anyone who might know is how much movement is there out of LAX that might leave an opening I could get into quickly? Is there any movement out of SAN that might open that up, or is it lifers who will never leave, and no growth?

I have other offers that are giving me more in terms of longevity bonus, pay, vacation, and retirement, but they'll leave me commuting for as long as I decide to stay at work...or maybe a driving factor in us moving out of California. If I could, within just a couple of months out of training, hold LAX, I'd opt for that, but I don't want to pass on other offers, and find myself commuting to MSP or IAH for the next 2-3 years.

****Edit with regards to response below: I'm not looking for anyone's advice on where I should go, what I should do, who I should fly for. I didn't say, "Should I fly for Skywest, or apply at Joe Blow Airlines?" because with my experience if I wanted to fly for Joe Blow Airlines, I would apply there. I'd rather fly up and down the west coast primarily. Skywest seems to have the best base/opportunity for that. So please, I'm not looking for other opinions on where to go or what to do, I'm looking for specific thoughts regarding movement and expansion at LAX and SAN.

threeighteen

just apply at Omni

DMH1967

That's not even a response to any of my questions, but thanks. With 21,000 hours and 30 years at airlines if I wanted to fly anywhere that's hiring, I can basically get my foot in the door. I don't. I have no desire to do transcon flights, redeye flights, overseas flights, 5 hour flights, flights into JFK, EWR or anywhere in the Dominican Republic.

So, back to my questions...anyone have any actual answers?

Excargodog

You do understand that as a DEC you are junior to every other CA with a date of hire before you, right? Meaning that every FO upgrading to CA in the next two years or so will be senior to you? I mean, you might get LAX right out of the box - it could happen - but if you don’t then pretty much the whole damn seniority list of CAs for the next two years will be senior to you so movement at any of the individual bases isn’t even an issue. You could wait two years and still be behind a new hire in intro right now who has yet to fly a turbojet aircraft.

Didn’t you get that brief?

Utah

There's been a lot of movement at the LAX ERJ base this year. It's currently staffed at around 120 CAs, it was up to 160-180, but a bunch have quit. Vacancy report for next month has 20 more openings. Transfers are awarded every month as well. Currently there are probably less than 30 that want LAX as their first choice. I think they want it staffed in the 180 range. I'd say only the top 50 or so might be considered lifers.

There's been so much turnover it's hard to say what will happen in the future. We're currently short at least 500 captains' system wide. I'm sure the company would like to double even that number. (Only 2200 captains out of 4900 pilots, and we started the year with 5800 pilots.)

It's hard to say what the new pay package will do with attrition. 100+ CAs leaving every month was the norm. I don't know if it will change. I

If you can't get LAX right away, at least it's a one leg commute to many of the other domiciles.

trip

The domicile vacancy report that just came out shows 20 CA in LAX and 3 CA in SAN so yes anything’s possible within a couple months. Being the junior CA sitting RSV for a couple years doesn’t sound fun though.

DMH1967

Excargodog yes I get that. But not all of those FOs on property can upgrade now, or even for a while for many of them, thus hiring street Captains. O get that I'll be at the bottom for a while, but if I can get into LAX, that's doable, whereas being st the bottom and stuck based in ATL or MSP for years is not.

Utah, thank you. That is the kind of info I'm looking for. If there is movement at LAX, guys leaving and not enough FOs with the hours to be a CA or wanting to take that base, there is a possibility.

threeighteen

Well you're going to get worked like a rented mule at SkyWest and may have to commute. Omni on the other hand will buy you a ticket to work, probably won't ever see JFK/EWR/SDQ, you'll block a handful of hours each year, and you won't have to put up with anywhere near as much nonsense.

DMH1967

Trip, I agree it doesn't sound fun, but retirement hasn't been either. Since my wife still works, getting to jet off to a Caribbean vacation 2 or 3 times a year, or explore the country in my airplane, is still just the thing of dreams. What it is in reality is that I'm a stay at home petsitter, and YouTube watcher. If I'm going to sit around doing nothing, I'd rather be able to go fly and earn some more money for the "flying my Baron" fund.

Utah

Insist on the ERJ, you'll never see a Socal base with the CRJ.