Originally Posted by
CaseTractor
Is the consensus that forced upgrades will be here for the foreseeable future, or is there a possibility in the next several bids tons of guys from the hiring boom will be reaching 950hrs and upgrade will be competitive?
The last four bids have had at least 110 vacancies. While there were large numbers of people hired in the past two and a half or so years, I don’t know if the number of people who are eligible as first time captains will still exceed that number when you consider attrition as FO and DECs. Likely the only real competition will be for DFW 175 and there was one on the last bid that was displaced into DCL. Remember that if you preference, you lose out on the displacement seat lock override of 5 extra hours for 24 months. A displacement is your last chance to squeeze a few more dollars out of our sub par contract.
My thoughts are have your displacement what you want with emphasis on the equipment first. OCE and OCL should both likely be available. After you get the equipment you want with a displacement, accept the training lock and then preference WHERE you want on the next bid.