Originally Posted by
scambo1
Bill;
Overall, I agree with your analysis - except one part. IMO, you overrate the narrowbody left seat. Many/most int'l widebody FOs have been able to hold capt for a while.
The pilots who jump to the left seat at first opportunity are doing (what I call) an ego bid. The pilots who fly int'l long haul by choice look at pay/days worked.
The best it ever got with me was 8 days/month for 81 hours...I rode that for 2+ years. Contrast that with 12-17 days per month for 73 hours as a narrowbody A and you can see the difference. In all honesty, the 8 day month has largely dried up, 9-12 is now the norm, but it is still better than 12-17.
I am interested in seeing how this bid plays out too. Not necessarily with great anticipation, but more from a social engineering perspective. The A330 going to ATL, although not unexpected, is going to be interesting to watch mostly because that will be the Malaria jet.
I was primarily talking about those specific 67 A330 FOs in MSP. Those MSP Captains are all extremely senior, and can do anything they want or just call it quits if they don't want a new training cycle in ATL or a 747 training in MSP before Natco goes away. Faced with a paycut going to the ER in MSP, those FOs might now be able to hold 320 Capt in MSP and fly something very close to that 330. Some will follow that 330 to DTW and stay FO. I don't know how many want to make the longer commute to ATL. Since I live here in ATL, I want as much upward movement as possible.