Originally Posted by
Turbosina
Agreed. There were a few hundred (?) very lucky new hires who were able to get CA slots right off probation, but the last few bids have seen the most junior upgrade awards go to people in the 10-11K range. The days of the quick upgrades appear to be over, for the time being. My uneducated guess is that the massive changes in reserve rules (18 hour callout) has made life as a junior reserve CA much more reasonable, especially for commuters.
I'd attribute it to fewer captains needed and FOMO for those who had been holding off on upgrading. Many pilots seemed content where they were knowing they could upgrade whenever they wanted which had been the case over last few years.
Once deliveries were slowed due to the FAA audit and hiring was paused over the summer and it seemed like the music was at least slowing down, the limited NB CA vacancies quickly went much more senior.
Now that Boeing is on strike, it looks like movement will be slower than it had been, but more in line with historical norms.