Originally Posted by
El10
I do not think we will ever see a bump on the 737 as we are adding them as fast as we are parking the 757s. The domestic fleet allows for greater flexibility in base sizing by flowing hours in and out of a base based on head count. Just look at some of the 76T bases and the amount of reserves they have in some bases. They have proven they will absorb overages short term to prevent bumps.
The big question is once they run out scabs to staff Sparky who will fill the vacancies?
L-UAL pilots can bid sparky if it goes unfilled on the L-CAL side. They just go to the bottom for monthly bidding until the fences drop, then they go back to their normal seniority position.
I hope you are right about displacements. I don't want to see any pilots displaced. What happened for the last 3 years wasn't their fault, and they shouldn't be punished for it. But this is what I "think" will happen....
The company will put out 737 Captain bids. They will initially go to only pilots in the top half of the seniority list. Then as they displace off the 76T those pilots (unable to hold it on the regular bids) can displace to it because they can hold it. There are lots of Airbus Captains on reserve that are friends of mine telling me how they can get off reserve on the Bus and be senior on the Guppy. So they might bid off. Plus we have many senior Airbus FOs who were guppy Captains (About 70% of all Airbus FOs can hold guppy Captain)
So the 76T guys don't have to bid. They can wait and just bump over.
I predict that is whats going to happen. All I care is that if their seniority can hold it, that they have the right to sit in that seat.
Remember UAL had 150+ guppies at one time. Almost everyone hired here has flown it, and many current FOs were Captains on it. Those FOs are in the 5500-7500 seniority range right now. WELL senior to the 8000-9500 seniority guys there now.
At least this is what I predict based on seeing how senior the other recent Captain bids went.