Originally Posted by thump

Planes start arriving in July for flying to commence on or around the 1st of August. Hiring has been continuous and they will continue to hire for sometime to staff up the AE operation.

New hires have a good chance of getting ORD. Keep in mind that if you get S5 ORD, you will never be able to cross over (under the current contract) to the RW side as an FO. So you could be stuck on reserve as S5 ORD, while people junior to you could end up with great lines at RW ORD. That said, there should be enough FOs upgrading out of S5 ORD that I think both sides are likely to offer good movement.

How long to hold a line is anyone's guess. For RW ORD, it would likely be months if not weeks of reserve.

Attrition is steady, but we are a big pilot group. Losing 30 pilots out of 3000 doesn't really make a huge difference in seniority progression.

Upgrade times: Right now, most junior CA awarded is about July 2007 hire (almost a 6 year upgrade). We have over 200 planes now (excluding F9), so an additional 47 jets will grant some new upgrades, but it's not going to provide a quick upgrade for anyone coming here as a new hire. Attrition to the majors is really the only thing that will get a 2013 hire into the left seat within the next decade.