1. I've never heard about observations for new hires until i was at Delta. It was a pointless waist of time for me. Maybe its more useful for those transitioning from the military. But airline ops are airline ops.
2. The other two companies I have worked for as soon as the trip was assigned for training it was now no longer assigned to the original holder of the trip (They were pay protected for the original trip). I was more likely to pick something up and double dip being able to look at available trips a week or so out. Under our current way of doing things when I have to show up just to get released, I'm not doing anything other than going home.