United San Francisco base after four years: the Asia and Australia ultra long haul, the Bay Area cost, the reserve years and the body on the Pacific
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#1 United SFO, international to Asia, and I have replied in the jet lag and the Polaris and the Chicago threads from here without writing the base. Here is SFO properly, because it is the United Pacific gateway and the base the Asia crew want.
The base
United's San Francisco hub, the Pacific gateway: Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, Manila, Shanghai and Beijing when they fly, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Tahiti, plus the Hawaii, the domestic West, and a Europe component (London, Frankfurt, Paris, Munich). The 777s and 787s on the Pacific, the Polaris cabins, the ultra long haul to Australia.
The reserve years
SFO is a senior base for the Asia flying and the reserve for a new hire is long: two to three years is normal, as at Newark. The reserves fly the domestic and the Hawaii and the occasional Asia when a trip breaks. The guarantee pays the Bay Area rent barely, which is the SFO new hire's whole problem.
The Bay Area cost
The most expensive base in the United system. The crew live in the East Bay, the Peninsula suburbs, Sacramento, and a large share commute from Reno, Las Vegas, Portland, Seattle and further, which is the SFO commuter culture. A new hire living alone near the airport does not exist. The crash pads in Burlingame and Millbrae are a United institution.
The Asia flying
Tokyo on the 777 (ten hours, a 24 to 48 hour layover, the Shinagawa hotel, Hiroshi's thread), Hong Kong and Singapore (longer, the layovers the crew love), Sydney and Melbourne (fifteen hours, the ultra long haul with the augmented crew and the rest rotation, the 30 hour layover), Auckland. The Asia line at mid seniority is three or four trips a month and the body in no time zone, as Jim and James wrote. The route regulars are real here: the Tokyo crews, the Sydney crews, the Hong Kong crews with their lists.
The body on the Pacific
The worst body clock in the United system: 15 to 17 hour swings, the Australia pattern that takes a week to recover from, the Asia back to back that the mid seniority crew bid for the per diem and regret on landing. The SFO Asia crew are the fatigue management department's most studied group. The blackout curtains, the no alcohol on the Sydney layover, the home time for the short Asia layovers: the rules the threads describe are survival here.
Why I stay
The Asia, which I wanted from the day I applied. The Polaris cabin on the Pacific, which is the service I like. The Bay Area on the days off, which is beautiful and expensive. And the SFO crew, who are the international crew in a system that is mostly domestic, and who know it.
For United new hires
If you want Asia: SFO, and suffer the reserve and the rent. If you want Asia and a life: Chicago for the line, then transfer to SFO at mid seniority with the Asia bids landing. If you want a life: Denver or Houston, and visit SFO on the staff travel. The Pacific is the best flying in the system and it costs the most in every currency.
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#2 United LAX, and SFO is the Asia base and LAX is the Pacific base with Australia and Hawaii and a shorter list. Renee's reserve years and rent are worse than mine and her Asia line is better. The two California bases are the two halves of the Pacific.
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#3 Newark, and the SFO Asia body clock being worse than the Newark Europe one is true and I have the Tokyo trips to prove it. The Pacific crew are the fatigue department's study group and they earned it.
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#4 Denver, and 'the Pacific costs the most in every currency' is the SFO base in a sentence. The reserve, the rent, the body. The Asia is the reward and Renee wanted it. I wanted the mountains.
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#5 Qantas Melbourne, and the United SFO crews at the Melbourne hotel are the ultra long haul regulars from the other end of our Dallas pattern. Fifteen hours, the rest rotation, the body budget. Renee's crew and mine compare notes at the gym.
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#6 Vancouver, and the SFO commuter culture from Portland and Seattle is the West Coast cabin crew life: the base is expensive, the crew live far, the commute is the tax. Vancouver has the same shape in Canada.
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#7 JAL, and the United SFO Tokyo crews are the other regulars at the Shinagawa hotel with the Delta Seattle ones. The ramen lists compete. The SFO crew list is 31 shops, I am told, and colour coded.
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#8 @hiroshinrt the list is colour coded by broth and the Delta Seattle crew have a copy they deny having. The Pacific crew rooms share more than they admit.
