FWIW, in class they told us ATL in either June or July (can't remember which) with the rest of the bases shortly after that.

They are trying to work a way that commuters could get positive space and it not affect your duty day. If there is a way to figure that out, I think that we will get PSY for commuters. It is something that has been seriously looked at.

Thanks for the info all. Does anyone happen to know what kind of trips are the newbies out of LAX getting?

Other airlines do this and the current line bid system is better for the line pilot. What happens when PBS does the reserve lines is that it builds the reserve schedule based on coverage AFTER the lineholders are awarded their schedules. What this does is basically guarantee that almost every reserve guy will work weekends. It also will schedule every reserve guy to work holidays. By letting the PBS system do the reserve lines, you cannot see how many weekends or holidays are available for reserve guys if there are any at all. This takes away the option of lineholders bidding down to reserve to get weekends and holidays off. If they had something that guaranteed a certain percentage of weekend/holidays off for reserve guys, then it might be ok, otherwise the current system we have is better.

How are things around the school house lately, particulaly since the merger annoucement.

I would say very upbeat - all things considered.

Still talking about winter hiring?

Well,

So far Anderson says they have plans to keep the DC9s in the air and both airlines will continue to take their scheduled deliveries. Also, he says were going to exercise options on 20 widebodies so...I bet one or both companies will be hiring later this fall or early spring...all things being equal, of course.

How long prior to class do they call you? I've been cleared to train for over 2 weeks and don't have a class date yet.....

I started in the Dec class and have just finished training for the ER out of JFK. I'm on my first trip after completing TOE and am getting ready to go and meet some of the crew at the pub here in Shannon, Ireland :D

The schedules for May are out and I am very happily surprised to see that eight of us from the Dec class have lines for May. I'll be sitting reserve for two weeks in Apr and then have a line. The schedule increases with the summer flying and there is another AE coming up next month so will see how long I can keep a line but for now I think the ER is great.