Hey, I've got an idea on the whole IOE trip pull nonsense. How about if they ran the F/O bids with all the trips in the pot, then 'pull' the IOE trips out, pay protect the F/O's who just got their trips pulled, and then award them their next best choice trip, to make up a 'full' line... with extra pay.

BUT...make it "voluntary", that is, there would be another choice box added to the long list of PBS choice boxes that said something like, "may remove trips for IOE and award another" or "may remove trip for IOE, DO NOT award another".

If the F/O's had that choice, the guys who want to make more money, would volunteer to have their trips pulled, be pay protected, and awarded another trip instead, or have the trip pulled and be pay protected but have more time off.

And the guys who don't want to lose out on their 'best' trips could say 'Do Not remove trips for IOE'.

The company gets their IOE trips pulled for training, but has to pay protect the guys who should have got them, and those pilots can chose to either keep their trip, work another trip and be paid for both, or they can stay home and be paid.

Just trying to think outside the box here, don't throw poo at me!