Originally Posted by
DeuceMountain
So perhaps you more experienced folks wouldn't mind educating a noob about this… I'm a poolie awaiting training, and can't help but wonder how often these shake-ups have occurred in the past few years. Is this just a product of the merger? Do those of you who've been here a while feel like this will be the new norm? Not that I'm going anywhere else, mind you--just trying to wrap my head around the culture.
Long story short: Some bases have more flying than they have pilots, while others have more pilots than flying. Since the merger, the company has been building lines that have pilots from overstaffed bases(737 IAH/76T DEN) deadhead to understaffed bases (737 ORD/737 DEN) due to some fleets growing while other fleets shrinking, costing the company money by removing revenue passengers from flights.
So the company plans to move pilots in order for each base to properly staff its own flying by forcing pilots from overstaffed bases to a different aircraft and base that their seniority can hold, causing a domino effect until everyone is where their seniority allows them to be.
This should affect mostly junior guys relative to each base. Newhires need not worry because they are already put where nobody else wants to be (EWR 737, 320, 76T.)