Originally Posted by
Longhornmaniac8
Interesting. I'm also curious what happens if they fail the upgrade class. They're off probation, but they don't have an FO award to fall back on. Do they just bid during the next vacancy bid at their seniority? What if there are no vacancy bids, do you just sit around, or can they fly you as an FO (will you be paid CA pay because your category is CA)? Can you "intentionally" have substandard performance to avoid being placed in an upgrade class? Can they abrogate seniority if the CA slots fall in the class to people who aren't qualified? I'm not trying to be obtuse here, I really think there are legitimate questions that aren't answered in the language.
The implementation of this will be a nightmare.
I would assume that they would be handled like any other pilot who fails an upgrade… they can either be fired, sent back to the right seat of the plane they were previously qualified, or given additional training and another try. I’ve flown with WB FOs who are permanently banned from bidding Captain due to previous upgrade failures… so this ain’t new.