At the union meeting on Tuesday, the SIG guy said that now that have cranked up the "Domestic Solve" (optimizer) on the 727 and Airbus, that the MD-11 is next. Maybe they really are waiting until after close of business Friday?
Or ... maybe the December bid month came up by surprise this year, yeah that's it. They were too busy dealing directly with the pilots about the rental deposits to have the bid packs ready on time?