Nope. We sure woudn't want a 4yr west FO upgrading before a 20yr east FO. Now that would be ridiculous. Even arbitrators go off their rocker (or get influenced somehow) and make decisions that make no sense. His two pilot helpers didn't agree with him. They guy is 83yrs old. And then there's alpa changing a long tradition of Date of Hire and Seniority. They changed their policy and made seniority for sale. Ah but that's another bad novel.....

I'll put in my .02 for the guys interested. The 190 is a very nice aircraft. Longer than a 737 and heavier than a DC9. Nice LCD screens, nearly as automated as a airbus, and for the most part a well thought out airplane. The passengers like it and most flight attendants give their approval although some say the front galley is a bit small. Right now the reserves have a pretty good life. Some short call reserves are only flying as little as 5hrs a month. Because of the bucket system it is hit and miss. Long calls are getting about 50hrs which makes it very commutable. Living in base is preferable. This of course is all subject to change. If they get short reserves will obviouly work more. Airplanes are coming quick and rumour is that we just signed a deal for a lot more. Only base right now is PHL but rumour is once more airplanes come, they'll put some in CLT. Only makes sense as the plane already flies some CLT routes. Cities are being added every month but out of PHL the 190 flies to DFW, MSY, BNA, RDU, BOS, YUL, ATL, and so on. Someone mentioned that the schedules are commuter schedules. Bull. In the bid packet 5 legs are rare. No more than the airbus. 1-4 legs are normal.

When you are a block holder you have a schedule adjustment period where you can swap trips with others and open time, and drop & pickup. Even once the month has started as a blockholder you can swap with open time two days prior to a trip. So what ends up is that the least desirable trips go to the reserves. As a reserve you'll do a lot of day trips such as PHL-BOS-PHL-BOS and standups. Day trips and standups are what blockholders tend to drop. The good news is that reserves are moving up to blockholders pretty quick right now. They are adding about 2 lines per month and I think they're at 26 hard lines right now. Senior FOs after their 12month lock are bidding off the airplane for more money so with the current movement you would probably be on reserve only 2-3 months. I've been at several airlines and have flown 121 over 20yrs and I can honestly say that we've got some of the best cockpit crews around. Most guys are laid back, professional, and fun. There's always the few jerks that are.....well...........they're everywhere.

If operations stay separate we can benefit from the high retirement rate and things are moving fast. We sure deserve it after putting up with years of bad managment and bad managerial decisions. No one know what is going to happen and it looks like next year will be a year of many changes and mergers and who knows how it will all play out. This career unfortunately is a roll of the dice. You make the best decision you can at the time and hope it's a good one. Personally I think it will all work out in time at Airways. Things are certainly not perfect right now but things will get better. One thing you commuter guys will like is that most of our east schedulers have been around a long time and they operate strickly by the book. No favorites or playing games. They'll get canned for that. Much much more professional than you're probably used to.

Good luck to all of you applying and see you on line.