Originally Posted by
phl08
seems to be counterproductive to assign them to somewhere that involves leaving home many hours earlier (or the night before) to fly their assigned trip.
Counterproductive is not a criteria in the process.
Everything is assigned by seniority. As the new hire, you pick from what nobody else wanted yesterday. So long as they keep bringing in new hires, your lot will improve soon.
The seniority system can produce odd results, but if you don't assign by seniority then the other options are pretty much 1) random and 2) "merit" = company favoritism. You would MUCH rather commute out of your base for 3 months rather than spend a career wondering if you'll get based in Altoona if you write up too many things.