Originally Posted by
ogarmyopar
No I can’t we only have a bid once a year and they are retiring airplanes so a bid isn’t even a real bid. They call it a realignment bid so you can only bid to a new fleet if you have been displaced off of your fleet or your base is closing. Furthermore once you do get an award it generally takes years to actually go to training on the new fleet. They are still training from the 2021 bid right now. Most of the FO’s quitting are junior 75 pilots so 75 FO is actually properly staffed right now and a few months ago semi understaffed so we are locked in the seat essentially until all the fleet retirements happen.
Timing and seniority are what determines QOL at airlines. There certainly people that had it harder but I was hired near the end of the 2006 wave. Got bumped from my seat to the panel when age 65 and parking the DC10s happened while guys just a few months senior kept WB FO slots. It sux and I made a lot less $ than near peers on the seniority list. 5 years of NB flying wasn’t great. When things got better, it got better fast and QOL and upgrades improved. That being said, nobody can say for certain when that will happen this time. Guys hired in 2015 will have an entirely different career trajectory than you. They lucked out and had impeccable timing. It sucks to be a catfish. That being said, guys like plezdontfireme will only see the bad. He was probably hired in 2015 and has had an amazing run and still complains 😜…There are worse salt mines to work at but if you can’t wait for the turnaround here and think you’ll have better luck at a Major who is cold calling, go for it. You won’t know if either choice was correct until the end of your career. Good luck. These decisions are stressful.