The logic behind that is, it protects the guys in the 'new' category from being displaced by a senior guy taking a VD, because he can only go where that junior guy could have gone.

BUT...once he gets there, he's using his seniority number to bid, so the junior guys in category could still find guys senior to them coming in above them, even if there were zero openings posted, if one junior guy in a cut category could have have held it....

So, in the end, nobody know's where they will end up, and nobody knows who might come in, or if they'll be above or below them! Thought you were a line holder?? Not any more!

See? It's Perfect!

It's supposed to keep the pinball effect to a minimum during times of displacement, by only allowing a VD to go to where the most junior MD guy could have gone, but I've seen some reallly strange results. They do list the reasons for the moves next to the awards, so you should be able to see how anyone was awarded his new possition, be it MD, VD or AE.

Here's one more thing to be aware of when bidding anything "NEW" ie. when the 717 bids start coming. If you want to be a line holder, and you bid it "Regular Line Only" or as say, 60%, when the computer runs the bids, it looks at the TOTAL number of pilots in the new category, after ALL of them have been converted. Of couse they don't come into the new category all at once, so you could be a Senior guy on the bid, go to training first, be converted first, and guess what?

Now you are ON RESERVE!

Why?

Because even though you might have been number 20 of 100 on the AE bid award, you might also be number 20 of the first 20 guys trained and converted, so now you are the PLUG when you are converted, for some months, until more are trained and converted under you. This might take 6 months or longer, while you commute to reserve! So be careful if you are bidding into any "New" category.

Even though you put Regular Line Only, you may be the reserve plug until everyone else below you is trained and converted.