Originally Posted by
Probe
l-UAL had unfilled 777 and 400 bids 15 years ago as well. ALPA decided to talk the company into not letting new-hires go to those aircraft. I can't remember why they did this.
I think a new hire being a bunky for 300 hours a year is a bad way to learn to be an airline pilot. Maybe that was ALPA's reasoning.
The 777's are not fenced on either side. Their are some pretty jr folks sitting on great lines in IAH and EWR. Their are a bunch of much more sr 756 FO's that are going to get bumped. I would bet a significant number bump to 777 FO.
This was happening at CAL before the last economic meltdown. Rumor was a 777 CA showed up to ops and the three FOs handed him their probationary reports to fill out. I don't think he rested that well on that trip. Also we started having 2 year CAs and fairly high levels of the company started an inquiry as to what could be so bad with QOL that much more senior pilots didn't want to upgrade but would rather stay FOs. (Ps, it was FAR work rules and understaffing of reserves). Speculation was that they may have been a bit concerned at the press reporting "the captain had only been hired two years ago" in case of an incident. Before they got too far into the inquiry the economy tanked, furloughs and stagnation returned things to normal, merger announced, rest is history.