You got that right! I was dead last in the company for about 18 months!

 

Thanks for the responses. The key for me is not sitting reserve in MEM. As a commuter, I need some sort of line. I hear that the MD guys have no luck with swapping R days around or breaking up a big block of days. And I'm more likely to sit reserve on the MD vs the Bus. Seems the Bus is better to be junior on b/c of the fact that reserve goes more senior. Also, SIBA sounds good later on. Anyway, I've got another 12 hours to figure it out.

 

According to the practice bid percentiles, a pilot at the top of the 50% group in the Boeing would indeed be at the bottom end of the 80% group in the Bus. That is surprising, but it is actually more like 50.01% to 89.9%.

Keep in mind that it is just a practice bid, so it WILL change, and that the percentages are for the end of the training cycle. It might take a year for you to activate if you are at the tail end of the training cycle for the Bus and you might be one of the first to train in the Boeing.

Just something to keep in mind.

 

Whatever you do, if you are currently in the back of the Boeing now and don't want to be stuck there for the next 3-4 years, make sure you bid all the right seats in every domicile you can stomach.

Otherwise you may be plumbing for a few more years and moving backward on the seniority list each month (until Memorial Day, when the age changes!).

 

I'm actually a Boeing right seater. Just trying to decide if it's worth the move. I'm a quality of life guy. Yes, money is important, but with a decent schedule and occasional carryover the money is not that much more on the Bus. Right? I know that the trips and the quality of flying are far superb on the Bus. Just trying to decide if it's worth the loss of seniority.

 

Purple... I say move on to the bus.. I'm sure you'll like it... And it'll create one more secondary vacancy for me and my buds..!

Seriously though... best wishes with your decision and I hope you enjoy where you end up.

 

Transitioning out of the 727 and into any other jet is sort of like a hip replacement. The only complaint you hear from anyone thats done it is that they should have done it sooner. But if your only requirement is to not sit reserve in Memphis, than maybe you're stuck on the whistling sh!t hole. It's too bad, because there's a whole new world out there, just waiting to be discovered. One that's quiet, comfortable, roomy, with better layover hotels (at some locations), where you're treated better by everyone, including folks in the training department, and last but not least, one where you actually KNOW where you are at all times and don't have to snivel your way across the country, by asking for "vectors direct." But of course, it's your choice, and good luck with it. I've always considered quality of life to include both my home as well as my work environment, but that's just me.

 

Yeah but just the thought of going through another hazing program they call training nauseates me.

I am currently near the top of the Boeing list and the lines suck, but that is to be expected here. For me line double-deadhead purity means everything. The ability to homestead can't be overstated. Just can't get that in the bus at my seniority.

Staying put.

Oh and I kind of like not knowing where I am at all times. Plausible deniability.

 

Amen brother! I dread the thought of an STV and another training program. I've decided to stay and I'm ordering the Bose today!!! SENIORITY IS EVERYTHING. Reserve bites as a commuter. Plus, too many unknowns out there. I'll let the dust settle and let the junior guys on the WB's enjoy the STV.

 

From what I remember, and in fairness it's been a long time, the Airbus training was the most civilized of them all. It was nothing like the Boeing training, which sucked back in 1990, and had gotten absolutely no better when I again went through in 2006. A right of passage that they never bothered to fix. A really dumb thing. The MD-11 program was really tough. Perhaps it was because I was going from a right seat to the left seat, so I now had to really know the FOM, as well as everything else, plus the systems on the Mad Dog are very complex, including the FMS and all its nuances, what with different colors meaning different things. Give me a break, after flying all night, I was lucky to be able to read the stuff, never mind knowing what it all meant. The Airbus, with its ECAM is a stupid pilots' dream. After orals, you can forget almost everything you had learned about systems, because the jet knows them and all you need do is be able to read to resolve 99.99% of the problems. A very cool way to do business. Too bad that Boeing never figured that out, but with most of their new systems being fully automated and redundant, usually the problems fix themselves. Except the really bad ones that is. For those you gotta know your butt from your elbow.