MD88 is good if you want to be flexible with your basing options. Its everywhere east of the Mississippi save Detroit. There is no "base lock" here - only a "seat lock" (aircraft and seat - i.e. FO/CA) - and you're not locked on your first aircraft. If you get the 88, you could theoreticaly move to a different base on every bid they put out. You could start in MSP, then move to NYC to when you could hold a line, then move back to MSP when you could hold a line there, then down to ATL when you decide you want to commute from Birmingham, then up to CVG so you wouldn't be locked on your next aircraft after they Mandatory displace you when the base closes.

As far as CVG goes, its a great place to live, but a rotten place to commute to/from. Only 2 or 3 departures a day to most cities served - which isn't many now. No mainline to DTW or MSP, only a few to NYC, and only like 4 or 5 to ATL. There's also no SWA/Jetblue/airtran here as a back up. I think most of the based commuters (lived elsewhere and commuted to CVG) have moved out by now. Only commuters left will be guys that live here and got kicked out of the base. Probably a moot point anyway - there were only 3 unfilled spots in CVG from the last bid (all m88 fo.) They may have already been taken by bypass guys. Anyone from the first 2 bypass classes know if any of the bypassers took a CVG spot?