not trying to be a jerk, but how much advanced notice do you actually need to plan for? We have ~45 days of scheduling info available as of the 16th of each month.

How exactly do you figure we have 45 days of our schedule available? We have more like 15. It makes it tough to schedule anything for the next month. Dr appointments, etc. especially if you're not senior enough to guarantee a day off.

No later than noon on March 16th when the PBS award is dropped, I will know what I’m doing the rest of March and all of April. So will everyone else. How is that not almost 45 days of planning?

How many days notice does a CA at JetBlue get? Again, the friggin bids need to open on the 1st. We can quibble about how long they should be open or how many runs we should allow for the scheduling committee to tweak solutions.

I make my appointments Tu-Th in mid-morning to mid-afternoon since I could pretty much guarantee getting those days off anytime in my career at any carrier.

May have been rhetorical, but IIRC at JetBlue CAs were out on the 8th and FOs on the 10th. Everyone opened on the first. Oh, and they use NavBlue with like 150ish possible lines of input.

At a bare minimum our bidding should open on the first.

2 things can be true.
On the 16th you will see 45 days out.
On the 15th you dont know if you can see the doctor in 15 days or go to your kids school event in 16 days.

The point is, most airlines have a better system and it's done quicker. Spirit has a better PBS system, and gets the awards out sooner. Case Closed.

Some of the appointments I have to regularly make routinely book 6 weeks out. So no not really enough time in the real world. My dogs have went a couple months without grooming because of our horrid PBS schedule release. Don't we have the latest release out of any airline?

Pretty sure we do. You're right, you can't even get a dentist appointment in less than 6 weeks now and unless you're 20% the chances of getting the days off you need without completely torpedoing your line are 0. I'm not going to bid reserve just to make sure I don't miss my chiropractor appointment.

If you need to go to a doctor, it seems you're sick.

And too bad if we call out for a 4 day, that’s 4 days gone and not getting back for sick time. No way to get some of that credit back by way of contractual provisions.

Classes filling up for end of April. When did those folks get the cjo?

Late Jan/Early Feb.

3/11

BOS 737 2
LAX 737 2
LGA 737 2
MIA 737 3
ORD 737 3
PHX 737 4

DCA 320 4
DFW 320 5
LAX 320 13
LGA 320/D 8
ORD 320 9
PHL 320 3
PHX 320 8


66 total again. No 3/18 class, don’t expect another drop until 3/19-3/20 for the 3/25 class.

:eek::eek::eek:

Probably because of all of us FOs who chose to upgrade in another base.

Indeed. 16,000 pilots make many different choices. Some choose to chase upgrades by moving, others by commuting and out of base pickup. Others choose to be senior FOs.

All of this gives fairly junior pilots the opportunity to choose to be the plug.

Ill take Senior FO for $1000, Alex.

Is there a new hire class this week? Drop?

I'll take junior Captain for a **** ton more, Alex.

maybe if you need your little man ego stroked I guess.

Who has an ego? More money, less hustle.

To each their own, but I think it is important to recognize that senior FOs can make a lot more than their junior reserve captains, while also controlling their schedule. There are many different ways to play it..

That's absolutely true, but one can be a junior reserve captain YEARS before becoming a senior FO, especially on the Airbus.

Everyone has to play a different game depending on where they are on the seniority list.

I heard that as a senior FO, but it didn't seem to be the case. Maybe if I had stayed until I was more senior. :confused:

Anyway junior Captain has been great, my only complaint is not getting to choose my overnights, but that will come.

Not necessarily. I made within 5% of what I would have as a junior Captain on reserve last year, but I had 80 days straight off over the summer, flew right around 600 hours, and my days worked were less than half the year overall. A lot of those days I was home by 9am on the last day. Being a senior FO I get the trips I want and makes IMAX crazy easy to do…and I’m a commuter.

To each their own!

My ballpark math shows you’d need to credit 1500 hours to make what a junior captain make.

Seen it many times, it is absolutely a thing. If you're a senior FO flying the bid as presented and not doing some extra work it won't though, you have to either do PM, MU/MO, PVDs, IMAX, or conflicts and more than likely you'll have to do a combination of all of them.

Yes, I know, but I couldn't at my seniority. More specifically I couldn't drop and hope there would be PM, OG, etc left for me after the guys senior to me picked up. Oh I could make what a Captain makes... some months, but not every month.

Not too far off from that I guess. A few months with 140+ credit using VCBK drops. Most other flying months around 90 credit. Some PM here and there, mostly during my 3rd IMAX month when storms ravaged DFW for weeks. I went 6 days straight two different times doing 2 day 1-1 PM trips with one of them being a DH most of the time.

I’m enjoying being senior. No need for me to upset the apple cart to make the same(or less if getting min credit on LCR). I live too far away to chance it with SCR. I’ll probably wait on the upgrade until I can hold a line. It’s not terribly far off.

I think your math is correct but you mean "pay" not "credit." Very important distinction between the two.

Class drops for this week?

No class this week. Expect a drop tomorrow or Friday for the 3/25 class

If bidding for a base is my number one, which airplane would provide a better QOL? The 320 or the 737 or are they roughly the same?

Roughly the same based on relative seniority. In junior bases seniority movement will be faster on the 73. That is not true in bases like Charlotte where the Bus is a much larger status.

Anyone know roughly the two quickest bases to get long call for the bus?

Can you share that math?! My basic calculations show you have to credit 104 hours a month (1248 hours annually) on year 5 pay as a WB FO to match a NB CA on reserves. At year 7 it goes down to 93 hours to match.

Probably PHL and LAX, maybe ORD or LGA D but both are small bases and can vary greatly. It all depends what slots new hires get in classes after you and how many. CLT and DFW would be the longest to hold LC. MIA 737 is probably the most consistent seat given to new hires the past 3 years so it's easy to bubble up from the bottom quickly there.

I’m assuming they were comparing NB FO to NB CA.

Consistently crediting 104 hours/month as a junior WB FO (yes, year 5 is still junior) would be somewhat difficult. Not impossible but difficult.

3/25 Class Drop

BOS/FO/737 3
LAX/FO/737 1
LGA/FO/737 3
MIA/FO/737 4
ORD/FO/737 3
PHX/FO/737 6
DCA/FO/320 4
DFWFO/320 5
LAX/FO/320 11
ORD/FO/320 7
PHL/FO/320 3
PHX/FO/320 8
LGA/FO/320 8