Originally Posted by
Bucking Bar
Anecdotally, back when Second Officers were a thing, some Captains I knew at FedEx bid back. They flew around half their trips, maybe less. One just hung on for the Christmas Season, flew the overtime trips, and banged out of most everything else the rest of the year. (He was just hanging around to gain health care coverage for an ailing wife, which was admirable)
You don't even have to stray that far afield. Here at Delta, after the Pan Am acquisition, A310 capt's nearing retirement would double down bid to L-1011/7ER engineer. They kept increasing their DC by 2.4% a year AND had higher FAE's. With 7 weeks vacation(if I remember right) and sick leave, they could work about 1 trip every couple/three months and be full.
Pilots being pilots, most double down bid and then went out immediately on a medical.