Ok guys, I definately understand the hesitation because of potential abusers. And for a second there I was agreeing with this monthly AE idea. But then I thought about it a bit and realized if your fear is senior pilots swooping in to cherry pick trips for a few months, a monthly AE is terrible!!! It allows exactly that!!!
Think about it. Senior pilots could bid ANY base EVERY month in their fleet. So what's stopping them from doing EXACTLY what you fear worst???
The benefit of swaps is there is just as much posibility of you moving UP in category as down, since someone has to LEAVE YOUR BASE when the new pilot comes in.
1. AE's are a MANUAL (labor intensive process) = COSTS $$$
Swaps are automated = free
(Moot point if they could automate AE's but that's not the case at the moment)
2. AE's require vacancies
Swaps are PILOT NEUTRAL
3. Swaps are NOT TDY!!! HELL NO TO TDY!!! (Again, swaps are pilot neutral! The company doesn't even notice it happening.)
4. Swaps in my propsed system would have you LOSE AWARDED VACATIONS and pick from what's available. That's a big incentive NOT to swap.
5. This is not the same as the pilot swap board. You don't get to pick who you swap with. So the chances for abuse are much lower.
6. 1 swap allowance per year would further alleviate concerns.
7. Remember, you can only swap if someone wants your base. If 35 people put in a swap to leave NYC for ATL, and 0 people want to leave ATL for NYC, then nothing happens that month. If next month 1 person decides they want NYC, then the other 34 junior pilots are still stuck.
8. You could have it be restricted to base to base only. (i.e. no 3 way swaps) or you could try making it better to allow 3+ way swaps. One is very simple and one is very complicated but probably doable with $.
Sorry that went long
