Originally Posted by
Denny Crane
As everyone has said, A VD uses the seniority of the MD to get into a category. But once in the category, the VD pilot exercises his true seniority.
Denny is correct but there is an exception whereby you can VD out of a category that has MDs slated and use your own seniority (instead of the seniority of the junior pilot you are "volunteering" for) to get somewhere.
Under 22.F.6.a., "[a] pilot who holds a VD may...displace into a category to fill an existing vacancy that his seniority entitles him to hold." The key is, there has to be a vacancy (AE) in that category at the time of the displacement.
It is extremely unlikely (emphasis for Sailing who skims over qualifiers and likes to argue just to argue) but...for illustration purposes, maybe there exists a very senior ATL M88 Captain who recently bid into the category and still has some remaining seat freeze (okay, okay....stretching the example just a bit....not sure any of those in the top 50 have been to a formal school house qual program in 20+ years). And maybe that M88 Captain decides now is the time to become an A350 Capt to finish out his/her glory years. Because there are 30 DTW A350 Captain slots on this bid, that uber-senior M88 Captain w/a seat freeze could VD out of ATL and into the left seat of the A350 where he/she will sip copious amounts of airplane water espresso while enjoying the fresh air of PVG.
In reality (again, for Sailing), that provision won't come into play seeing as any vacancy in this bid (A350 Captain excepted) is attainable by all of those being MD'd, much less anyone senior to them looking for a VD.