Cozmo

Sorry if there's a FAQ somewhere. I couldn't find it.

I have been a commercial pilot for about 15 years, and lately I've been greatly encouraged to check out the airlines. I have 5,000+ hours, 4,000+ multi turbine, and I have a pretty good job that I'm nervous to leave despite the numerous potential benefits that a good airline job would provide. My caveats (below) pretty severely restrict my options, and United is really my first choice of those.

My caveats:

- I don't want to move
- I can't afford a huge year 1 pay cut ($85/hr is doable, $40/hr is not)

My questions:

- How bad is life with a long distance commute? Are crash pads really that bad? A big commute essentially adds 2 unpaid days to your work hitch, right?

- What determines what base you get initially? What factors influence that? Do I get any say at all? (EWR and SFO would be long trips for me, and if I understand correctly, that's where most new hires go.)

- How long can I expect to be at one of those bases, assuming I don't get the one I want?

- What is the pay for new hires during training, and how long is it?

- How does flying on reserve work? How many days are you on call? How far away can you be?

- What determines what equipment you are assigned to? Excepting pay differences, is life in any one plane significantly better or worse than life in another?

- I know what a 401k is, but what is A/B/C? Some kind of matching?

- I saw another thread recommending Emerald Coast for interview prep. Is it assumed that everyone does this at this point, and are you at a major disadvantage if you don't?

I know this was a lot, thanks for making it this far.

WhisperJet

Goodluck to you. Keep in mind to look at airlines that have bases where you want to live.

Larry in TN

You didn't say where you live. A lot depends on your how much service there is between your home and domicile. The commuter policy requires a primary flight and a backup flight, both getting you to your domicile in time for your trip or reserve. There is no requirement for the flights to be on United or United Express. Having service by more than one carrier is significantly better than just one.

Some crash pads are better than others. If you don't like one, try another.

I rarely had to spend the night in domicile on both ends of a reserve block. Usually it's just one or the other and, when on reserve, I used aggressive pickup to manage the commute by picking up trips that allowed commuting on "workdays" as often as possible.

You bid for the available bases and equipment on the first day of indoc. Seniority in your class is by age so older is better.

Right now, the bottom two guys are SFO then some EWR. LAX comes in next then DCA (which is really IAD as the primary airport). On either the 737 or 320 you'd be able to get any of those four relatively quickly. ORD, IAH, or DEN would take longer. CLE would be difficult.

There's no way to tell. You'll have the most options on the 737 or 320.

You make more during training than when you're released to the line. The hourly rate is the same but the guarantee is higher in training.

You get 12 days off in a 30-day bid period or 13 in a 31-day bid period.

No limit on distance; just time. Usually 13 hours to pushback on long call (12 hours to show time for a Basic (domestic) trip or 11-1/2 hours for a Global trip). 2-1/2 hours to show when on short-call.

You bid by seniority on day one of indoc. Most classes have 737 and 320 slots. Some classes have some 756 slots.

Pay is the same in all fleets for the first year. After that, the difference is small for junior F/Os because you wouldn't be able to hold the higher-paying 767 or 764 as a junior 756 F/O. Blended rate is slightly higher on the 737 than the 320 but not enough to make much difference.

From your very first paycheck, UAL puts 16% of your gross into your B/C plan. It is just like a 401k except it is the company contributing instead of you. You can also contribute to the 401k but the company's contributions are not dependent on what you do.

I bought the Emerald Coast audio program but did the prep with Cage Marshall.

I'd recommend starting with How To Land A Top Paying Airline Job by Rick Hogan. It is $9.99 on Kindle.

MasterOfPuppets

Your questions have been answered with 1 correction. Your 401K is 16% it is not a match the company puts 16% in your 401K o top of your pay.

What I’m going to say may sting but with no 121/135 or corporate time it may not be possible to get on to the majors straight out of the gate, you may need to make a pit stop at the regionals. A commercial certificate just isn’t competitive in this market.

However if i miss understood you and you are currently a corporate pilot then good luck!

Larry in TN

Indoc is two weeks. Aircraft training varies by fleet and individual schedule. Roughly six weeks.

You may have as little as two days off between indoc and aircraft training or as much as a few weeks.

Every time you have days off, at least once per week, you can have positive-space passes back home. The instructors expect everyone to go home when there are days off. You'll be back home once a week.

If you're just going home for a "weekend" then you keep the same hotel room. If it's a longer break you'll checkout then get a new room when you return.

You can also expense your laundry when in long-term training (over 5 days for the total program) so when you leave for your positive-space ride home just drop off your laundry at the hotel desk and it'll be ready for you when you return. They'll teach you how to file the expense claims during indoc.

deltajuliet

How long to hold ORD these days? Other threads suggested 6-12 months, but the previous post indicated years.

Larry in TN

The junior ORD pilot is seniority number 12,459 out of 12,496. The problem is that there haven't been many vacancies in ORD so you might have to wait awhile until a vacancy or back-fill becomes available.

deltajuliet

Okay, thank you.

WhisperJet

Oops my bad. MoP is right, you ADD 16K into your retirement each year. So basically, you add 16K to your yearly salary. Thank you ALPA!

Larry in TN

It's not 16K ($16,000), it is 16%.