Same here. If you think there was hanky panky (Panky ha) going on with the swap board when it was restricted to in base, wait until you add other bases into the mix.

If it were as simple as "hey, I'll take your ATL-MUC if you will take my JFK-MAD" it wouldn't be a big deal. That really isn't the desire for many who want this, they want access to out of base trips to avoid or shorten their commute.

If you are based say in NYC, since it is such a more junior base, I can see where you would be pushing for it. As an example, maybe you can't even hold the 737 in ATL, but you go to the swap board and start picking up ATL trips to fill your schedule. Not a bad deal eh?

What about that same pilot who has a "friend" in ATL who is pretty senior on the 737. How do we feel if that pilot takes a trip from open time and then turns around and gives it to his buddy through swap with friends? Again, good for the NYC guy but maybe not so good for the other ATL guys who wanted that trip, or the pilot who may have got it on a GS.

To be fair, for the ATL guy who just needed to get rid of a trip for a family event etc, it may give him that day off that he otherwise may not have been able to get.

My only point is that anytime you start going down a path like this, you certainly need to consider all the ramifications including, seniority, staffing, trip allocation, yadda yadda yadda. Sometimes things that appear to be simple, really come with a lot of hooks and I think it is easier to avoid the "hooks" before implementation than after. One only had to look at the recent CDO issue to see how many possible "hooks" CDOs had as an example of not properly vetting an issue.

Disclaimer, ATL and NYC were used only as an example.