Originally Posted by
DiamondZ
So these 140 guys will be able to take seats prior to a new FDA. Some guys might be awarded seats that they would not be able to hold if the bid was open to all pilots (yes / no)? Just trying to understand the politics of this bid.
Seems to me that running this excess bid now accomplishes a few things for them. It attempts to put some fear into junior crewmembers ahead of the LOA vote and the next bid. It makes the process of running the next bid cleaner/quicker for them by getting the -10 excess out of the way before the Boeing excess. It also makes the union look bad by running a bid ahead of the vote when they said that wouldn't happen. Plus with a potential 3 year bid coming it lets us know that the Boeing which is already fat, will be losing an additional 17% of it's fleet.
Assuming the excess bids are run according to activated pilots vs. those holding a bid, then the bottom 10 FO's can only hold ANC FO, 727FO or 727SO. If they go to ANC, company's happy as no need for more nuggets there, if they go to the Boeing it just tells them how many people they need to excess before the Aug. bid. I think the latter is also the reason they unzipped their fly and said that HKG is going to be a Bus base. It gives the more senior 10FO's the opportunity to avoid the Bus and it's potential STV issues by bidding something else. This keeps the company from having to award someone a Bus excess bid, only to have them change their mind in Aug. on the next bid if the LOA passes. Not saying it's going to work out that way for them, but they are trying to make their job easier. It's just like the little question on the bids about whether or not you're going to stay around past 60. At the very least it will give them some sort of tweaking info the next bid. I can understand the company giving us something to think about, but I don't understand why our union isn't clearing up the waters with some more official comm. on all this stuff.