I personally think bid base first, then equipment that is in your desired base so that at least you can hopefully move to that base on the next AE. That's just my strategy, but if base isn't important to you and equipment is them you should bid equipment first!

 

Post 2786. Filler.

A5S

 

And the 350 drought continues…

 

What kind of flying and what kind of schedule could someone expect on the 320 vs. 7ER out of NYC/ATL?

 

I'll give a counter thought, with a giant caveat of "it depends"... Individual nuances will vary, so take this FWIW.

Bid equipment first, then bid to change bases. This is assuming you would like equipment that is in nearly every base but the one you want (i.e. 320/73N, and to a lesser extent 7ER), or your SSN isn't quite high enough to get the base you want on the initial drop but high enough to get the equipment you want. We traditionally have about 5 Advanced Entitlement (AE) bids annually - it constantly varies. You can always bid immediately to change bases on the same equipment - because there is no seat lock to the base, just the equipment. It's not a guarantee, but I submit it's a low risk/high reward strategy in most cases. You might have to commute for a couple of months, but you also might not ever have to report to your original assigned base. This happened to me on the -88 when I got hired into NYC. I got lucky with AE timing, but was converted to ATL before I was even done with OE. Winning.

Every AE is different, so you have to be careful extrapolating trends from just one AE, but... It seems most AE's have seen nearly every NH category with super junior folks switching bases. Remember, every category in a NH drop can ONLY be from positions left unfilled from the most recent AE. Some bases that have been traditionally more senior (looking at you, MSP) seem to be trending more junior as the NW pilots retire - this may be the only way to get to MSP (which rarely show up in a NH drop).

Having said that, if your family situation wouldn't tolerate that risk, go for the base over equipment, then wait out the 2-year seat lock and switch equipment. But if you want to avoid a month on VA Ave twice, there is a decent chance to be successful by bidding the equipment, then switching bases. Good luck.

 

Its all crap….all of it.

 

Anyone have this week numbers? We got the drop but no numbers

 

NYC ER has the best flying of those 4 options. By far. I cannot believe NYC ER goes as junior as it does.

 

Because…. NYC

That being said if I was still in NYC, I’d take the ER any day. Over the 765 and possible the 330, just due to variety and flexibility.

 

I wouldn’t. ER has some amazing international flying in the summer, but it’s seasonal. I’ll take 12 months of international flying rather than the trade off of fighting to do it during the summer for a few better layovers. And sad reality is they’re mostly all 24 hours anyways which is a huge bummer