Originally Posted by
KC135
It's different from every other airline where you normally take the first upgrade and commute until you can hold your own base again. With all day trips and schedules/airports that aren't commuter friendly, most don't leave their family to chase an upgrade. New bases go junior.
To give a little more substance to this...
The last 5 captain upgrade slots on this latest bid went as PIT CA, the 2 before that went CVG CA... The last guy to get it (subsequently PIT CA) was a 7/7/15 hire... that said, that group isn't slated for training until early July '16, and will probably hit the line around September. You don't get paid CA pay until you pass your check ride, so effectively, you're not really getting the benefits of being a CA until about 1.3 years, and that's the quickest possible.
Long story short, if you wanna upgrade quick here, in the most junior base, you can... people tend to stay in their bases, even as FO's... but expect a less than stellar QOL for a few years until your seniority builds enough to hold a decent schedule in one of the more desirable bases. I've also seen a bunch of TDY'd captains lately (here in PIT) that aren't too happy about it; so that's a possible downside to to a quick upgrade as well.
All subject to rapid change, but that's what's going on at the moment.