​​​​The vacancy bid "wait-list" is longest for ANC and PDX, they're the smallest based and have a bunch of FOs and Captains commuting until they can get back home. SEA is the easiest commute for both of those locations so for those waiting they bid for SEA next. Big population of pilots live in PNW so they want SEA. Commuters from other locations take SEA because it has the most flights. That leaves SFO and LAX. Trick with SFO is that it's a tough commute and anyone who lives there has the United option. So SFO is at the bottom of the wish list unless someone lives there, but then there are other options to consider.

My two cents.

 

Only for the months of March and April due to a short term LOA that offered incentive lines. They have been able to pick up since the new contract was signed and will be able to again in May.

 

It does look like the company wants to grow Portland now. Portland growth plans were put on hold to beef up SEA to compete with Delta, then Covid, etc. SEA is now basically at capacity gate wise and they are ready to get things going in PDX.

From a company press release earlier this month:
"Alaska Airlines is ramping up our growth in Portland to provide our guests with more choice and convenience. We’ve added more than 20 daily departures starting this summer to sought-after destinations from the Rose City. Our capacity has increased by 25%, improving connectivity and providing additional travel options."

If you came to Alaska and wanted to live in PDX you would probably get based in SFO to start with. Can do long call reserve from PDX to SFO to start. About 10 flights a day between all the airplines PDX-SFO. Next most junior base is SEA which has a drivable long call commute. Junior FO in PDX with the June 2024 bid effective date was hired in March of 2023. Would probably guess a year or two to get into PDX after getting hired.

 

For now...

The no pick up restriction applied to May as well until a couple of weeks ago. Likely someone did the math on what would happen during the first month of live PBS bidding...

If it isn't part of the CBA it can be taken away at any time. The MEC seems to support that. So this income simply can't be counted on. Unless you are a fool it should not be included in a budget.

 

Don't really know what the MEC supports on this but you do realize that pilots working on reserve days off helps the company right? It allows the company to do less upgrades and less hiring.

 

No, that trip would have been assigned to a reserve pilot. We are overstaffed and a lot of reserves are just sitting around not getting called much.

 

The justification as explained to me was that suspending the reserves right to pick up on days off was to stop the company from downgrading captains. So yes the MEC supported it.

 

How pilots decide to budget is up to them. Even if it were in the contract the prospect of picking up open time on your days off is not guaranteed.

I was just providing context to a statement that had pertinent facts omitted. It’s fine not to like the fact that the provision is a LOA (I would like for it to be codified in the contract as well) but I think it’s important to share the whole picture. I’m sure any future incentive lines will also come with this caveat.

 

Are you one of the 3% who didn't bother to mock bid PBS?

 

Do you really think that I didn’t bid? I’m pretty sure that anyone who reads and posts on Internet forums absolutely bid in the practice round.

I just try to think of this stuff without emotion. Also people who don’t work here read these boards and just like when I was on the outside looking in accurate information was appreciated. Sometimes when certain aspects of something are omitted it makes things sound worse than they are. Maybe it’s intentional, maybe it isn’t, doesn’t really matter.