Originally Posted by FlyinPiker

Yeah that does blow in that ya'll really didn't have a choice.

I'm thinking you'll see some relief in at least 3 months. I don't know where you sit on the list, but even if you were at the very bottom and couldn't count on more conversions coming in beneath you I think there were 18 vacancies for MSP 88 in the Aug 16th class and there's 15 for the the Sept 6th class. In both classes it's been one of the largest numbered positions available which tells me they want guys in those seats. A steady flow of padding for you all should start hitting the line by NOV for bidding purposes. It is possible for for some of the Compass/Mesaba hold backs to be bidding some of those positions, so that might hurt things a bit, but I think they'll keep posting big numbers either way.

As far as bidding out to SLC is concerned I'd seriously think twice about that. Remember 767 to 7ER is in the works out there and has the potential to shake things up quite a bit. Before I went and seat locked myself on a more senior aircraft I'd want to see the results of the upcoming bid. I would imagine both DAL North and South guys not currently holding those seats will be interested which will trickle down to make everything that more senior/ stagnate out there depending on whether they open up SEA a bit more.

Reserve in MSP definitely sounds like it's a totally pain for some of you in the short term, but big picture is getting seat locked in the 320 or 737. Those seats are senior in any of the bases it sounds like you'd be interested in taking (LAX,SLC...or even back to MSP). You might end up locking yourself into guaranteed reserve for 2 years.

I'd think about waiting at least 1 AE regardless of what is published on the next one unless reserve out west is more attractive overall.