I read somewhere that the VP Flight Ops said no hiring for 2009. Hope I'm wrong.

I have no problem with that.

Hopefully CASmaster, for the sake of all of us, this changes again and they start hiring but as some have said if they wanted to hire for the increase summer flying the window is starting to pass by.

I'm not sure but someone else could probably elaborate if there was a recovery at least in the future bookings (or the yield of future bookings since that seems to matter more) and there were some vacancies that needed immediate attention how quickly could we ramp up hiring and get someone off OE in time for summer? Even if it was just the group of 08 new hires waiting on class dates and such at least that'd be some people coming in.

Just curious. It seems like 3 months would be plausible on the 88 (and I'm sure DC9) but I don't know about the hiring part.

Forgot to bid..........

Great avatar........ahhhhhhh the little crash 10.

The joke when I was a MEM DC-9 guy was that it was the bubba jet. The little -10 was the stubba bubba, the big -50 was the hubba bubba. What does that make the MD-88 (DC-9-88)? Insert jaw breaker joke here....:D

SIL Availability for January 09

ATL 777 A - 10
ATL 777 B - 13
ATL 765 A - 10
ATL 765 B - 20
ATL 7ER A - 30
ATL 7ER B - 50

Maybe the dubba bubba?:)

Thats good. Ferd?

I'm for monthly equipment bids as well. Did you guys know what equipment/displacements were available before it was awarded or just have a standing bid in?

This is not correct. This is not a displacement bid, it's an AE. This AE may very well cause your displacement bid to be enacted. The 73N category in CVG is fairly junior at the bottom, as well as the M88. If a CVG domestic 76 guy doesn't want to bid the ER, but he wants to stay in CVG and is senior to the junior folks on the 73 and 88, the junior guys better have a displacement bid in the system because they WILL BE displaced somewhere else in the system.

Another note on the AE, just because this AE is only for the ATL 777 and 7ER CVG, this will cause all sorts of movement throughout the system. If a NYC 73N guy with the seniority to hold the 7ER in CVG bids it, then he will move to 7ER CVG, thus opening up the 73N in NYC. Some categories because they are FAT, won't backfill, but many will. If you want something, BID FOR IT, no matter where it is. You never know what kind of movement even a small bid will produce! BID WHAT YOU WANT, WANT WHAT YOU BID!!!

The card posted by our NWA brother really looks very similar to the computer model we use on ecrew to me. The only difference seems to be that NWA does it every month and we have been doing it about every quarter for the last year or so. I think one difference is that the computer will delete things out after an AE is awarded, so you have to check (update) your preferences after an AE if something has changed.

You have to have a standing bid in. We get guidance every month as to what the outlook is for awards on each fleet in the following months but it's a little vague. No actual numbers. Just statements like,"The A-320 is expected to see fairly high award volume in both the Captain and First Officer positions through the end of the year." etc.

They roll the pref cards on the 5th of the month and publish the award on the 20th.