Gosh, can we dredge-up some armchair quarterbacking on the following closures?

ANC
MIA
JFK
HNL

Not to mention the wholesale "rightsizing" of the pre-merger UA Guppy fleet?

My point is that airline management will always make decisions that affect pilot's upward mobility, pay, and convenience...and never in a good way. The only effective countermeasure is to make base closures contractually as expensive as possible so they don't pull a Houston 787 drill on a whim. I'd imagine after the IAH787 fiasco, base closures get a bit more scrutiny (you'd hope), but they'll continue to happen.

Tuck any displacement away, and ask yourself when you read the next contract TA if you think it adequately protects you in the event of a closure.

I've been through enough base closures to know they suck. They suck even more when you realize that small bases rarely have enough clout at the MEC to sway any votes. I think the only way to address it really is though the hypothetical that would affect every pilot, and then write those protections into the contract.