How you bid matters.


When NYC was closing, it closed with 23 LA CA and 37 SFO Capt vacancies. If I had bid just LAX Capt as #1 and SFO Capt as #2 I would have gotten SFO Capt because there were no LA spots left by the time it got to my seniority. But by bidding NYC Capt as 1, LAX as 2, and SFO as 3, the system recognized I can’t hold NYC, and now displaced me into LAX despite zero openings.




Bottom line, if you’re an extremely junior Capt, bid your own base and seat as #1 and then whatever else you are okay with as #2 and so on.