Originally Posted by
gloopy
Do they have to offer bypasses? At some point it seems like they would save more money calling people's bluff and say 100% of awards will train, go for it cowboy. Bypasses beget bypasses; the more that get them, the more that ask for them. Likewise if they shut it down, I think VERY few pilots would bid a higher hourly rate only paying category (training, loss of relative seniority and perhaps a commute) just for a couple years difference in hourly rates, usually all of which can be made up for in one's current category with their existing relative seniority in the first place.
They tried that with the A350 launch, few bypasses to try to scare people away from them, some retired in training or after a single OE trip. The problem is that they don't have the training capacity. It really bit them with the A350 last summer. They have the same issue on the other WB fleets now as well, if they don't do enough bypasses they can't train enough pilots to keep up.