Mike-
The way you phrased your question it sounds like you might not be aware that ALL standing preferences are deleted from the system every time you receive an award.
Be aware of that.

But also-
There ARE certain circumstances where a pilot would include his current category in his list of preferences. That's PhD level bidding though. I would not advise a new hire to do that until you are very confident that you are very familiar with the percentage system and all the bidding strategies available using the percentage qualifiers.

Finally-
Most guys will tell you that the iCrew capability to view pilots with preferences for certain categories can be very misleading and is almost useless. There are many reasons for that. ie=> It doesn't factor in the percentage qualifiers or whether a pilot has throwaway bids in the system as his first three choices, etc. etc. etc.

Bid what you want and want what you bid. You will only end up screwing yourself if you try to bid based on the numbers from that page in iCrew.

For reference, I just got the Delta CJO on Tuesday - similar career totals (yours are higher), but I was coming off a 2-year non-flying staff gig. DAL's resume-scoring heuristic seems to be aggregate in nature - you'll be a Tier 1, 2, or 3 based on their total-person assessment of you. There might be a lower limit for recency, but very high likelihood that you're above it, and your grand totals should make up for it anyway. At the interview just be prepared to explain how you arrived at your numbers - I found that I was vastly overprepared for that portion, all they wanted was a copy of my SARMS summary and a quick verification that day + night = total. Use caution in the conversion from Mil to PIC but don't let it hold you up. I was a Herk & T1 guy, happy to share the spreadsheet-calculator I used.

ER
 

I find it interesting that the ER B to A ratio is sooooo far out of whack.

There are 285 ER B spots posted and only 18 A's. I get that the fleet needs more FO's overall due to augmented legs, but that seems a little excessive to be the explanation.

Any ideas? Buzz, Rocky, Roadkill any of you guys bidding A out west?

I agree with FTB, bring the flying back to ATL! :p

Seriously, happy for the out-west guys. Nice to see some movement for you finally.

I agree. The sad thing is that Anderson told the lca at the last meeting he wants to change it. Capts are complaining FO's are making more than them(even though it is a VERY small percentage of FO's doing this). Instead of being jealous, guys should be happy we still have a good deal out there. If they are jealous, they should bid back to FO...Pilots are most times their own worst enemy. I see ALPA rolling over on this and agreeing to change it in the next contract..

You can be sure there are whole lot of junior captains taking a hard look at that.

Being a senior FO might be far preferable.

If we are going to be hiring at this rate for several years and the LCAs are going to be doing IOEs on every trip, this strategy could work for quite a while.

Whole months off. Triple pay whenever you feel like working.
Not a bad gig.

I've been doing this for a few months now and it is a good deal. There are a few LCA that you can tell it rubs the wrong way. For the life of me I can't quite figure that out. We have only had no recovery since the JCBA, before that we had recovery obligations which sucked. I'm sure they will try and change it. I've also heard they want to do away with PB days for GS's on reserve. :eek:

Jealousy. nothing more.

That particular FO is 3000 numbers more senior than the most junior NYC Captain. It requires some seniority to play this game and the alternative system sucks.

If that category is properly staffed then they won't be making more than their Captains.

I'm not bidding any A positions. Doubt that they will go junior to the lower 7000's anyways. I thought the same thing about the ton of B's they added. I'm not smart enough to know why they would be that out of balance.

It is nice to see some movement out here. A 777 LAX base with all the growth in SEA would make this a very balanced airline as far as where you want to live.

They don't even release you until the night before the trip starts. On my category, at best you might get a WS.

If they got rid of PB days for reserve pilots... thats crap too.

Both of those are the suckiest sucky ideas that ever sucked.

fwiw I'm in top 3rd of my category and even from here I can't hold LCA.

There are around 30 B717 and 16 B739 yet to be delivered this year that all need Captains. There are a few (number dependent on the mood of the day) B757 being parked. The B7ER B's are one of the largest groups upgrading to Captain, so they have to be replaced. That's why there's a disparity.