Originally Posted by
⌐ AV8OR WANNABE
Well, I hope you are correct. What my friend heard from his sim. instructor the other day is that IF there is a system bid (and he thought that's what would happen) then there are close to 140 guys between 60 and 63 (on both the classic and the DC8).
I do not have the seniority list in front of me so I have no idea if the numbers are correct but he said that probably all those guys would go to the left seat and some to the right seat (not sure why they'd want to?).
If so, the displacement will be "understated" in my view but I hope you are correct.
I know this is all rumors but hey, this IS a rumor board, right? 
The only FE's that will be able to
displace to the front seat are the 11 in the age range on the 747 Classic. There are over 100 age-eligible FE's in the DC8, but they can only get a front seat by being awarded a
vacancy. There will not be enough vacancies for this number to get a Captain award, so that is why they (we) will be going to the right seat also. I don't think there will be enough vacancies to clear out all 100+ to the front seat this year, especially since we are adding to the mix 61 747-Classic front-seaters who will take their front seats through displacement. The overall displacement numbers will be significant, but that is due to the front seaters being displaced, not the FE's.
It will be very interesting seeing what UPS offers up, where all the 747 guys go, and how many DC8 FE's take an upgrade to ANC. I don't forsee any lower 48 vacancies, but if there are a few, they will go very senior, both left and right seats.