Originally Posted by RyanP

How long have you been in this business?

20-30 seniority numbers was the difference between me getting displaced out of my base before. It was the difference between me getting downgraded and not holding onto a CA seat twice, losing THOUSANDS of dollars/month while I sat in the right seat instead, not getting TPIC time. It was the difference between having a decent reserve schedule vs being close to the bottom of the list for YEARS as a Captain. It is the difference between getting a horrible trip on RSV vs getting exactly what you wanted. It is the difference between getting the OT you put in for or not. It makes the difference of getting weekends off, getting the vacations you want, If I was 30 numbers senior I wouldn't be stuck with this POS 0400 sim schedule every time I go through long term with the same group of guys because I could bid what I wanted. Once you flow to AA, since the classes will be filled with other new hires as well as flows, it compounds that number every class you are delayed, that 20-30 seniority numbers you lost will be even worse and be the difference of like 100+ people you are junior too for the rest of your career at AA. With them bidding things you wanted every month but you can't get, all because of a stupid decision to hold out for the 175 and short term gratification.

Seniority controls EVERYTHING. I am still kicking myself over a decade later for not starting one month earlier here when I had the opportunity because it has screwed me over more times than I can count not being 30 numbers senior. My friend 10 numbers ahead of me, every month without fail, always gets what I wanted to bid, or gets the weekend off I wanted, or get the Christmas off I didn't get every year, or the late afternoon show times I wanted, or the sim slot I wanted. If I was senior to him that wouldn't ever happen. I have to live with that for the next 30 years. (All because I wanted a Holiday off as a new hire and delayed my class by 1 class of 30 people). It was extremely shortsighted on my part. That one Holiday I got off by doing that literally cost me years of never getting that Holiday off again. I was an idiot for doing that. No problem admitting it and I would never do it again. Now I am trying to tell people don't make the same mistake. The 175 is not worth it!

Yeah, the 175 guys might get it better initially for a while, but long term it's a stupid choice. Inevitably, things will shift around and their quick movement will end up getting shifted around when a displacement/vacancy comes out and the senior guys pounce on that and take what they deserve (being senior). There is times of weird situations like this where some junior people make out like bandits for a while, but it never lasts forever. Seniority will always come back and bite you in the arse in the end. So What happens the next displacement bid comes out as 145's shrink and 175 grows? I have been displaced 5 times in my career. Displacements and bases opening/closing are a part of airline life. It's not a matter of if, but when. They will displace pilots off the 145 in DFW, guaranteed at some point as we take on more 175's, that guy that sucked it up will be senior to everyone of the 175 wannabe's and he can potentially displace them out of their seat and take it from them kicking them out to another base onto another fleet potentially. Lol.

Who is the idiot now?

If you can get in the first available class and choose equipment? Sure, 175 is a no brainer, but if you have to delay class for months or to the end of Summer just to get the 175, that is retarded. Yet, that is exactly what they are choosing to do.