Seniority is Everything

I was scheduled to work a grueling 13 days last month. I got paid for all 13 days, but only worked for 8 of them. I can’t even make this stuff up…working for a major airline is just great living.

Why bother telling you? Bragging? Image crafting? Sorry, but I’m a pilot…I don’t really care much what you think. All I want is to make sure that everyone understands a critical point:

“Seniority is Everything”…

I’ll explain the mechanism I used to get my amazing June in just a moment. Before we go there though, we must discuss the fact that seniority progression at major airlines is outstanding right now…but it won’t be this rapid forever. If you join a major airline in the next 5 years (maybe even 10-ish years for some) you will enjoy unprecedented seniority progression and the ability to have Junes just like mine. If you wait, maybe to cash in on a military pilot retention bonus or chase a promotion, school, or command, you will have a vastly different career. It’ll still be a great career, but you won’t have the same access to these good deals. I don’t say this to be a jerk…it’s simple math.

I know a lot of people who are happy and fulfilled as military aviators. I’m glad for you, and I wish you continued happiness! Every military aviator needs to realize, though, that you can do almost any fulfilling pilot job in the Guard or Reserve that you can do on Active Duty…even soul-sucking staff work if that’s your thing. You can transition to the “Total Force” now, hop on this seniority-fueled good deal train, continue your honorable and hopefully, fulfilling military service, and earn a retirement. Let’s look at one of the many, many reasons why you’re far better off joining an airline now and continuing your service in the Guard or Reserves:

My company’s schedule bidding program, PBS, allows me to specify a criteria that basically says, “Award me any trip with a Line Check Airman.”

For those of you who are undereducated on commercial aviation terminology like I was just a few years ago, a Line Check Airman, or LCA, is an airline Captain who serves as a combination Instructor and Evaluator Pilot. Airlines do qualification training in simulators. You’ll take a checkride there and be awarded a new type rating. However, when you get to the line, you fly with an LCA for your first trip or two. This training event is called Operational Experience, or OE. It’s mandated by the FAA and it’s important. As good as your sim may be, there’s just no way to simulate the full scope of real-world operations in a video game. Being an LCA is a good deal. It pays extra and has other fringe benefits.

Since schedule bidding is seniority-based, the company can’t just schedule new-hires to fly with LCAs. The company is contractually required to schedule FOs to fly with each LCA through the normal, seniority-based bidding process. Then, after schedules are already released, the company schedules new-hires to fly as FOs on the trips that the LCAs were awarded through that process. If you happen to be a regular FO on that trip, this means you get a phone call where the company informs you that they’re “buying your trip.” They pay you for the trip, but you don’t have to show up for work. Yes, it’s a great deal.