Originally Posted by
chihuahua
Yeah, no I get it, you're exactly right. Eventually you have to sh1t or get off the pot. No matter what I'd really be kinda starting over really at the bottom of a regional seniority list, the only difference being that I'd have tempered expectations of what the life is, knowledge of how management likes to be sneaky and screw pilots over, and just general operational experience I didn't have when I first started a few years ago. All that said, even with all the legitimate faults with companies like Envoy and every regional, it still seems that if someone does commit to any of the three AA wholly owneds, it's as close as you'll ever get to a "guaranteed" spot at a major airline, even if it takes 15 years.
Yeah I forgot about that happening a few years back. I assume the upgrade bonuses are an attempt to avoid a repeat of that. Do CA's get locked into seats/bases or is that only a new hire FO thing in the contract?
Not locked into a base, even as a FO. Upgrade incurs a two year equipment lock, unless displaced and one year before you can flow to AA.
Bonus aren’t really as much to encourage upgrade as it is to keep those captains at the respective company. There are hundreds, maybe as many as a 7-800 that have the time to upgrade, waiting for a vacancy and those will be very much based on seniority. But then there is a big hole after that with folks that have been stuck on reserve and no one hired below them. Those 1000 hour two plus year FOs are the ones mostly leaving. 60 or so total in August. Probably 60% FOs. They don’t think they can upgrade anytime soon so bailing for ULLCs and ACMI.