Blackhawk, I don't know your seniority or your circumstances. I would ask you to not assume what someone elses circumstances are. I've been used to seniority based systems for awhile now. I'm also not a thirty something year old with no other life experience. No need to lecture me. I get that you think your system was great and better than ours is, especially since it catered more to senior folks like yourself. Ref. what Nevets said, it is a more egalitarian system. It attempts to take care of everyone to some degree, regardless of seniority. We also have relief lines. They are built after the ILIW, so that lineholders are afforded the opportunity to take advantage of the better trips in the ILIW. This process recognizes seniority in terms of lineholder vs. reserve. Too bad (for you, I guess) it doesn't strictly reward seniority in terms of what kind of line you can hold. It's a system and it isn't ashamed or beholden to some sort of golden rule of Alpa seniority. Sorry it bothers you, but I am thankful for it. I hope you figure it out before it bites you in the ass like it has me. Like I said, it's not perfect but it works well for those of us that don't get what we want with the initial bid results. I try not to whine about the little **** like the opening of the ILIW, even though I've scratched my head many times over it. Even the most senior can take advantage of the ILIW, they are not excluded. It can be improved or changed, but I am happy overall with the results I get every month.

I don’t want to sound like I hate everything on the XJT side. I’ve already seen some things in the contract I like. And man, if you think we’re whining now you should have heard the whining when we first went from line bidding to PBS. Doom and gloom. The end of the world. Now we’re complaining that we have to go back. Of course many of us senior pilots were bidding vacation low and paid 75 hours for 65 hours or less of credit for 8 months of the year. Oh well. All good things come to an end.
I think this is just an aspect of your line-bidding that caught many of us off guard.

BTW, when is news about the TA coming out??

Bad news comes on Fridays.

Regarding “Paying your dues”, at what point has one satisfied this requirement of seniority. Even now with an integrated seniority list, a significantly more amount of seniority exists ahead of those with 12 years, than behind them. Remember that when voting. Junior doesn’t mean a new guy any longer. Most folks with 20 years or less on the CRJ side have apparently “unpaid their dues”. Just something a little different to think of when it comes to the work rules and pay of someone that is “junior”.

It looks like the ExpressJet ALPA server is down. Maybe that's why I haven't got an email yet.

If only there were a way to tell the system what you wanted during the bidding process and were awarded a schedule based on that...

I think I’ve heard of such a system.

Ironically, it seems as if the ALPA mail system is down...

I understand this perfectly. As my base shut down I was shuffled to a less senior base and went from top five to mid 30’s. That’s how things work in the airline industry. After paying his dues at Big Blue my big brother does not worry about junior pilots taking trips he should fly on the -330.
In addition, the system you describe is subject to corruption such as cartels and bid blocking.