r/AirlinePilots

717 Upgrade

Based on the fleet title it’s obvious which airline (excuse me, air line) I’m at. Currently on the 320 right seat. I really dislike red eyes and am the minority who prefer shorter legs. All of this makes the 717 really attractive. Captains I’ve spoken with that have flown it, adored the 717. What feedback, good and bad, am I missing for considering my first upgrade?

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u/MotherGoose1 — 1 day ago

How uncomfortable is flying the 737 actually?

I'm starting to put my apps in after flying ejection seat aircraft for about 10 years . Long story short, I've clawed my way back into the cockpit from some lower back injuries and I'd like to keep that part of me as un-hurt as possible in the future. For folks who have flown both: is it reasonable to target an airline(s) that primarily flies Airbus vs one that is max'd out on 73's, or am I way overthinking this? As far as domiciles go, any city on the west coast, SLC, DEN, AUS, or NYC would be awesome. I think that includes just about every major.

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u/Pakol — 1 day ago

Advice

Apologies for yet another airline comparison. Started at a Fort Worth-based legacy at the beginning of the year and have really enjoyed it so far. ~1,000 below me, but UA sent the Hogan last week (my app had been in for a couple years).

UA’s growth and financial success are obviously attractive, but it would come at a seniority cost, and I’m happy where I am now as well. I’m hearing UA CJOs are backed up, so assuming I wouldn’t start until late this year/early next year (correct me if I’m wrong), I’d be giving up ~1,600 seniority numbers.

I don’t live at a base for either, but I do slightly prefer my current airline’s base options and have been checking out a couple places to move to. Given that + the upcoming mandatory retirements at my current gig, I’m not sure giving up that much seniority makes sense unless the grass is truly greener.

Any insights?

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u/Scary_Issue7978 — 1 day ago

91 vs Legacy QOL

Howdy, I am a current Pt 91 pilot for a company currently work about 11 days a month and am making first year airline money, and it will stay that way for a while. I get 3 weeks vacay, but if I’m not on vacay I have to be within 3 hrs of airport at all times

My question are the first years of Legacy carriers worth it in the end? I’d like to make the jump. I know money is exponentially more at Legacy but my current QOL is nice, except for the on call part and having to do our own flight planning, small tasks and such. Would 11 days a month be possible at all in the first 3-5 years? Thanks!

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u/Then-Outside2165 — 1 day ago

What do you guys hand out?

My airline doesn’t do trading cards or wings. Just curious what you guys like to handout out to our big and small flight deck visitors. Any links to purchase would be appreciated, thanks!

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u/kyleth3pil0t — 1 day ago

Ready To Upgrade?

When did you know you were ready for your first airline upgrade?

I was at a recently shutdown airline, landed on my feet at another airline and it looks like upgrade can come very quick here. I largely see myself as spending the next few months in study hall learning a new plane so I can be ready to snap up the first upgrade chance I can.

But it got me wondering, since I haven't been a captain yet - when did YOU feel ready for upgrade and how did you know you were?

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u/febrileairplane — 1 day ago

Current Pilot Lifestyle

I guess this might be generic or specific to individuals but I’m looking to speak to a couple of active airline pilots on how the role has affected their family life. I’m a married father of 2 who’s debating leaving my my business to train and become a pilot. but trying to find real life information on how home life has been since qualifying?

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u/Limitless_2026 — 1 day ago

Post 65 options

I’m still on wife one and I have money so let’s not go down that rabbit hole please. I am 59 and am looking towards the future. My thoughts are part 135 but some of them only let you fly to 67 (net jets). Any thoughts on this? I’m located in NYC so east coast helps. I don’t want to work my ass off just something that keeps me somewhat busy and makes decent money. I know I won’t be able to replace my 121 income.

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u/AdParticular3832 — 3 days ago

Benefits for emirates pilots

How do the housing allowances work? Also, is the platinum card they mention in their website actually any good?

On a sidenote, I've heard that QoL isn't very good at that airline, but if anybody has other opinions I would love to hear them. As a Canadian, I have a hard time believing it can be worse than air Canada/WestJet

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u/Some_Guy105 — 2 days ago

3 of 6 cargo carrier pages on APC have no update date at all

I'm a UPS pilot. I went through what Airline Pilot Central publishes for six cargo carriers and compared it to what's actually current.

APC still lists 42 MD-11s in the UPS fleet - that one's easy, the fleet is gone and about 275 of us retrained after last November. But the bigger problem is that the FedEx pay page has no date on it at all, so nobody reading it knows those rates predate the June contract. Three of the six pages don't publish an update date. The newest one that does is March 2024.

That's the actual defect: not that it's old, but that you can't tell which numbers on a page are old. A number with no date is worse than no number, because you'll bid on it.

Atlas, ABX and Amerijet I couldn’t confirm — several of those numbers were written forward to dates that have since passed, and I’m not going to guess which step they’re on now. If you fly there, tell me what’s right.

Same ask for everyone else: what's flatly wrong for your airline right now?

Full transparency, I'm exploring whether a better-maintained version is worth building. I’ll share the comparison in a reply if someone asks for it. Nothing for sale, no signup, static page. Cleared this with the moderators before posting.

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u/AnotherFreightDog — 1 day ago

Stupid question about jumpseating

Getting near the end of my upgrade training at a regional. I have my normal luggageworks bag I use for work, my flight bag, but also another small luggage I used for all my extra clothes. It doesn’t weigh more than 20 pounds or so. I’m wondering: if I list for the jumpseat on a DL flight to go home at the end of training, can I gate check my small bag? I’ve never tried it but I’m not sure if it’s allowed.

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u/pooserboy — 2 days ago

3 of 6 cargo carrier pages on APC have no update date at all

I’m a UPS pilot. I went through what Airline Pilot Central publishes for six cargo carriers and compared it to what’s actually current.

APC still lists 42 MD-11s in the UPS fleet — that one’s easy, the fleet is gone and about 275 of us retrained after last November. But the bigger problem is that the FedEx pay page has no date on it at all, so nobody reading it knows those rates predate the June contract. Three of the six pages don’t publish an update date. The newest one that does is March 2024.

That’s the actual defect: not that it’s old, but that you can’t tell which numbers on a page are old. A number with no date is worse than no number, because you’ll bid on it.

Atlas, ABX and Amerijet I left blank — I couldn’t confirm them and I’m not going to guess. If you fly there, tell me what’s right.

https://cargopay.netlify.app/

Same ask for everyone else: what’s flatly wrong for your airline right now?

Full transparency, I’m exploring whether a better-maintained version is worth building. Nothing for sale, no signup, static page. Cleared this with the moderators before posting.

u/AnotherFreightDog — 2 days ago

Query abt management pilots (preferably at cx)

hi guys, like the title suggested I just wanna know more abt the management side for pilots (like those combining flying + office work) cuz I rarely see much info about it online, and soo here r some of my questions:

-is it common to be one among the pilot community? and do pilots prefer becoming management pilots over just flying / vice versa? (Like is it better or worse to be a management pilot e.g. getting promoted to higher roles/salary pay/potentially healthier cuz u fly less/workload, etc

-And how do u actually become a management side pilot? Like how do u work ur way up there?

I'd be interested in all relevant info about management side pilots sooo all comments will be very much appreciated :)) alsooo preferably if it's in CX as it's hopefully where I wanna work at in the future. Thankssss

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u/ascluelessasicanbe — 4 days ago

New Airline Pilot gift?

My ex-husband (who is a great friend of mine and father of our children) is starting his first day of training for a major airline at the end of August. He is currently flying corporate. I'd like to get him a nice gift from our family as a congratulations for fulfilling his lifelong dream.

When he started out (when we were married) I purchased him a really nice carry-on. I was thinking of getting him ​​the Travelpro Pilot Professional Flight Bag, but I'm wondering if there is anything else you might suggest that would be a better fit for his new career? I'm looking to spend ~ $200-$300 (or less).

Edited to add - he'll fly the A320.

Thank you! ​​​

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u/Odd_Surround_3648 — 7 days ago

SWA Window 24 Aug

Here is my well thought out body to support the title so that I won't get flagged for a low quality post when really all I am doing is passing along a simple nugget of information to the masses.

I really hope that you all have read my well thought out text body hoping that you simply read the title and gathered the information you need from that. Its pretty self explanatory.

Low quality post.

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u/ABobLoblawLawBlogger — 5 days ago

Shirt Recs

Morning all, I’ve been wearing A Cut Above shirts all 7 years of my career in the airlines and it’s time to let these go. I’m looking for a good fitting, athletic fit, and comfortable shirt to try out. I have a half sleeve tattoo that comes down to about 4.5-5 inches above my elbow. So whatever shirt I get, I’ll need the sleeve to come down to just above my elbow when my arms are down. Anyone have any good suggestions?

TIA!

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u/Gullible-Donkey5776 — 8 days ago

Pilot Interviewer Opportunity

Currently a 920 hour FO at a wholly owned regional. I’m also a part time pilot recruiter for the company. I may have an opportunity to do six months in-office as a pilot interviewer. This would keep me off the line and only fly OT pick ups on my off time. I’m considering this because I have my second child being born in a couple months and this would allow me to be home every night to help out my wife as we have no family in our city. The other option would be to just bid reserve and play the hopefully don’t called too often game. The plan would be to upgrade as soon as the six month commitment fulfilled. Also to add, the goal is to get hired by a legacy before the flow. How much could this position help out my resume? Thanks in advance.

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u/asorr91 — 7 days ago

Quick question for the airline guys here.

I’ve been looking at an A350 HF failure scenario close to a westbound NAT HLA entry and wanted to hear how people would think about it operationally.

Let’s say the HF won’t tune properly in VOICE or DATA. You try a different HF frequency as recommended, but it still won’t transmit or receive. VHF and SATCOM/CPDLC are still available.

If this happens before the Shanwick oceanic entry point, would you be comfortable continuing into NAT HLA, or would you first treat it as an HF relief / entry eligibility issue with Shanwick?

And would your thinking change if the exact same failure happened just after oceanic entry?

Curious how you’d draw that line.

u/WheelPrestigious — 7 days ago

Are we on the precipice of another big wave at the majors?

Before anyone laughs at me, I am NOT saying that we're going to see a repeat of 2022. But the reason I ask the question is because my AAWO is losing a ton of folks to Delta at the moment - not just CAs, but it sounds like they are dipping into the FO pool as I've heard of a number of people getting the AON invite without TPIC. I've also been reading rumors that Delta expects hiring to remain robust into next year, and that United is about to ramp up in the fall again as well.

Obviously nobody knows what is going to happen for sure especially with oil being as unpredictable as it is currently, but I'm curious what folks are hearing right now.

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u/HankNotACop — 8 days ago