I've always wondered why they don't just ask people what base they ideally want in order to save training costs. I lived 10 minutes from ORD when I was hired but was awarded the Brasilia and had to commute for a year and a half. Had they given me the RJ it would have saved them training costs. I've met a few people who were given the RJ based in ORD and commuted to SFO for years.

It seems like it would save a lot of money and headaches to make an exception and award people who live in ORD, MSP, IAH, DEN the jet.