JA to 70 seater
There is no real good reason thats been presented to me to go to the 70 seater. My first thought when I was told I might be sent to the 70 seater was "great, bigger aircraft, more money and an extra FA."Delta is looking at Carribbean and Mexico markets again which means the 70 seater would be perfect for the short runways out there. Dallas crew base is sure to follow for the 70 seater. For an FO already losing money in CVG from Comair training pay, a base move now would realistically drive me to bankruptcy. Even with the 1st year reserve pay, I wouldn't be able to hold my head above water with a crashpad in Dallas.
All Captains on the 70 seater are the top 35 in the company, which generally calls for horrendous flights as an FO. That's not an overgeneralization on my part, thats from about 20 other FO's flying with senior guys.
Reserve time on the 50 seater is a little over one year. Reserve time on the 70 seater is projected to be 2-3 years. Reserve sucks a big one, especially if you commute. You're paid only 75 hours a month and fly much less. Sure its cool to stay at home and play golf...for about a month, then you want to go places, but you've got to be within 90 minutes of the airport at all times...and that includes about a 15-30 minute ride in from the Long Term parking lot. In CVG, that effectively limits you to a radius of about 50 miles from the airport, considering you're in uniform, packed, ready to go, and there's no traffic. Only 11 days off for reserve guys, with 2 sets of three and the rest single "floating" days, which means aside from your six "hard" days you never really know what day you're going to have off.
Having said that, I'd much rather do that for one year, than three.
There's a reason they had to jr. man FO's to the 70 seater, and when I figured it out I quickly agreed with the rest of the group.
Just my humble opinion. Take it for what its worth...about $.02
There is no real good reason thats been presented to me to go to the 70 seater. My first thought when I was told I might be sent to the 70 seater was "great, bigger aircraft, more money and an extra FA."Delta is looking at Carribbean and Mexico markets again which means the 70 seater would be perfect for the short runways out there. Dallas crew base is sure to follow for the 70 seater. For an FO already losing money in CVG from Comair training pay, a base move now would realistically drive me to bankruptcy. Even with the 1st year reserve pay, I wouldn't be able to hold my head above water with a crashpad in Dallas.
All Captains on the 70 seater are the top 35 in the company, which generally calls for horrendous flights as an FO. That's not an overgeneralization on my part, thats from about 20 other FO's flying with senior guys.
Reserve time on the 50 seater is a little over one year. Reserve time on the 70 seater is projected to be 2-3 years. Reserve sucks a big one, especially if you commute. You're paid only 75 hours a month and fly much less. Sure its cool to stay at home and play golf...for about a month, then you want to go places, but you've got to be within 90 minutes of the airport at all times...and that includes about a 15-30 minute ride in from the Long Term parking lot. In CVG, that effectively limits you to a radius of about 50 miles from the airport, considering you're in uniform, packed, ready to go, and there's no traffic. Only 11 days off for reserve guys, with 2 sets of three and the rest single "floating" days, which means aside from your six "hard" days you never really know what day you're going to have off.
Having said that, I'd much rather do that for one year, than three.
There's a reason they had to jr. man FO's to the 70 seater, and when I figured it out I quickly agreed with the rest of the group.
Just my humble opinion. Take it for what its worth...about $.02
