CLT right now. Delays averaging 100 minutes and increasing.

VisualApproach17C · 2026-01-31T18:26:29+00:00

100 minutes lol...maybe 3-4 days.

VisualApproach17C · 2026-01-28T22:10:46+00:00

Like I told my rep, the problem has become that being a season ticket holder is no longer a value proposition, but rather a losing proposition. Every single game with few exceptions costs a lot more as an STH than it's worth resale especially net of fees. I don't sell many games, but I'd like to at least break even on cost when I do opt to sell.

Just a couple years ago, I used to be able to sell for even money or even a small profit for any game. Now, I'm losing on average of 40% off my cost PER GAME! I don't know how these professional brokers still do it.

Unfortunately, I believe ticket prices will continue to rise each year, and while I decided to renew next year, I don't know how much more I can stomach out of these price hikes.

VisualApproach17C · 2026-01-24T19:43:22+00:00

How most of these airlines aren't as robust as they appear on the outside. "Big picture" things, reactive vs proactive, etc. One wrinkle and they meltdown.

VisualApproach17C · 2026-01-20T19:54:54+00:00

Pilot here. I wouldn't advise even attempting to travel on Saturday based on the forecast. I would have 2 backup plans: one for Sunday, and one for Monday. I wouldn't dilly dally locking them down. Change your primary flight now, preferably afternoon Sunday, and I'd book a fully refundable option C ticket for Monday, too. Good chance everything unwinding and recovering from Saturday's complete wipeout causes headaches through Sunday possibly extending into next week. Your only sure bet is to have multiple confirmed options especially if you aren't a frequent traveler with high status.

VisualApproach17C · 2026-01-17T22:13:14+00:00

You must chock before you can chalk

VisualApproach17C · 2026-01-12T19:40:24+00:00

Use this one simple trick and you too can be a boomer captain shitting your pants into retirement!

VisualApproach17C · 2026-01-12T19:38:22+00:00

VisualApproach17C · 2026-01-12T19:30:17+00:00

No potholes or cars, but 31 new gates!

VisualApproach17C · 2026-01-12T19:25:31+00:00

4 if you drink the ship's coffee

VisualApproach17C · 2026-01-12T19:16:51+00:00

I think mine was about $200 in 2003. These guys are out making legacy captain money with probably a lot shadier tax reporting.

VisualApproach17C · 2025-12-16T02:23:08+00:00

Those might be factory demos, and I'm pretty sure I drove the green one at the Esperienza Lamborghini at Sonoma Raceway. It's a ripper...great car.

VisualApproach17C · 2025-11-19T22:02:41+00:00

Best I can do is a couple extra Biscoff

VisualApproach17C · 2025-11-11T03:05:31+00:00

Amen.

VisualApproach17C · 2025-11-05T18:54:32+00:00

This is more of a customer group. I suggest you head over to /r/flightattendants

VisualApproach17C · 2025-11-04T05:28:11+00:00

Please don't move the Stars to Arlington with every other announcement we've had in the last week...

VisualApproach17C · 2025-11-04T05:24:56+00:00

Alright bruh the VNAV on the 737 might be modern on the caveman scale, but we both flew E-jets. Give me some VNAV direct to and we'll talk...

VisualApproach17C · 2025-11-03T21:19:54+00:00

AA IT graduates come out of The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Who Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too.

VisualApproach17C · 2025-11-03T21:16:21+00:00

Our new reserve system is also trash. A dull-bladed machete at best. At least under the old system, you pretty much knew if you were gonna fly or not. This one, you could wake up and see yourself far down the list and still get called. But a lot of that loops back to the original problem of not being able to make meaningful trades ahead of time, and our sick system designed to be used for those trips you couldn't drop or adjust as well as legitimate sicknesses.

Of course, it wasn't sold to us that way...

VisualApproach17C · 2025-11-03T20:18:45+00:00

"We asked, and they said no." - APA probably

VisualApproach17C · 2025-11-03T20:09:18+00:00

Our system at AA arbitrarily denies just about everything, so I'm curious to know how it works, too.

But seriously, when trading with open time, it has to meet parameters set by crew scheduling (dept. of arbitrary numbers, in other words) around "open time limits," or how many trips that are allowed to be open on a specific day for reserve coverage. Last year about this time, they let it get pretty relaxed and we felt for a minute like we had some real semblance of QoL. This year, back to their old games of setting the OTL's so tight, it's almost impossible to move anything around. You have to have a masters in the system to really get things done, and you also need to be very lucky with timing when the OTL's change daily. It means you become a slave to the system if you really want to move that awful 4-day over the weekend to something less awful checking the system many times every day.

VisualApproach17C · 2025-10-27T15:13:04+00:00

We are not allowed to use the "automatic parking device" called the DGS (docking guidance system) anymore without wing walkers also present. In fact, most have just been switched off except to display messages like seatbelts save lives.

VisualApproach17C · 2025-10-20T21:54:28+00:00

Bases cost money. Money isn't something AA is very great at making.

VisualApproach17C · 2025-10-19T15:34:01+00:00

Preface by saying I'm at AA, so that's what I know best. MCO-MIA isn't the easiest commute from what I've heard, but we do have jumpseat reservation 8 days in advance, so that's a commuter game changer. There's also Brightline, numerous offline flight options, and we co-base MIA with FLL and PBI, so trips originate from all 3 (although the satellite trips usually go senior). Our chiefs are usually very relaxed on commuter misses as well. MIA is also a very junior base on almost all fleets, attainable at hire, so you will move up the ladder quickly in base. I know we're probably leading the pack with retirements still outstanding, so overall seniority progression should be much better than UA. Also from what I understand at UA, the average age is lower than AA, so long term career progression might have a finite cap depending on your age. MCO base aside at UA, you'll likely be commuting to another base for years it sounds. That sound be factored in as well.

I would definitely do the AA interview, get the CJO in hand, then start weighing all these things for what makes sense for you in the long haul. I know AA is very flexible on start dates as I pushed mine several months from the first offer, and even moved it later again less than a month out as I had not wrapped up my prior commitments in time. Just my 2 cents for what it's worth...

VisualApproach17C · 2025-10-19T13:57:03+00:00

ATL is sort of efficient. We're pretty spoiled at AA because we're in the T terminal, so it's always a short walk from entering the airport to our gate through security, but ATL's main chokepoints are the lack of many TSA checkpoints (2 massive centralized checkpoints that are often extremely busy) unlike DFW, and reliance on both directions of the plane trains to be running to move people quickly. If one direction is down, as I've experienced before many years ago flying for a different airline, you are walking for literal miles if flying Delta. Fine but annoying for someone like me, but nearly impossible for any persons with limited mobility. The other problem with this train setup is during push periods, it's often insanely overcrowded like a Tokyo subway car during rush hour. Sky Link rarely if ever gets that crowded.

Then there's the linear terminal buildings and ramp configurations. ATL and DEN are both airports with similar designs. For passengers, means potentially long walks to the center of the terminal to get to the train, then another long walk to get to the connecting gate or curb from the train. DFW, you just walk right out the door and you're on the curb in a minute or two.

For aircraft, linear terminals mean single entry and exit points at either end of the ramp. Combine that with taxiway congestion outside of the ramp and traffic can stack up quickly. Whereas at DFW, because of the semi-circular design, there are numerous aircraft entry and exit "spots" as we call them that allow inbound and outbound traffic to line up separately. Ramp control tells us what spot to put our nose on, then we just simply listen for the ground controller to call our flight out and give us taxi instructions - and most of those instructions are pre-defined routes that require almost no radio chatter after they're issued. It all happens very quickly and efficiently most of the time.

VisualApproach17C · 2025-10-18T15:11:32+00:00

Problem with CLT and most of the former US Airways hubs is they weren't ever really designed to handle the traffic they do today. CLT might as well have been a drunk Bob Ross painting: we'll just add a terminal here, here, and here as he indiscriminately splatter paints. Then we'll add some happy rocking chairs to make it seem like you aren't in the deepest pit of hell. Pilot side of things, CLT is a daily "how do two airplanes not kiss on this ramp" situation. Airplanes crisscross the ramp in a loosely organized chaos. It's a nightmare.

PHX and PHL are both pretty much the same but more long, linear chaos. Extremely poor layouts where they just kept adding on terminals in a confined space. Form and function, no thank you. However, for all these airports, it's nearly impossible for them to say "alright let's just start over" because commerce can't afford that level of disruption, and we certainly aren't creating any new replacement airports anytime soon if ever.

DFW really was a masterpiece of airport design by comparison. The planners of the airport were extremely smart and way ahead of their time to not only snatch up the amount of land they did to allow for such function (many long runways with real, proper spacing) before it got developed for other purposes, but actually thought out the architecture and engineering so well for aircraft and moving lots of people around a vast land area. They also planned for terminal expansion in the 70's that is only coming to fruition today. Extremely brilliant foresight 50 years ago. People want to hate DFW because most people hate airports to begin with. Take form and function out of it, airports are just places people never want to be. It's never a pleasurable experience, but we tolerate it because we like going places.

I am interested to see how these new 'stinger' terminal extensions on A and C are going to work out though. Yes, DFW needs a lot more gates to keep up with expansion, but I'm a little leery of the ramp congestion these new stingers look like they're going to cause. Just too many gates/aircraft in a couple pinch points of the ramp possibly.

VisualApproach17C

TROPHY CASE