Homa

I know about the company's plans to recall 10 in August, 6 each in September, October, November, & December; followed by the remaining 9 in January. I was just wondering if anyone knows about how the company is going to put out the bids? I've heard 3 small bids to come out in May, June, & July. I've also heard some people mention one big bid? Anyone have the latest info. on this?

Thanks...

Aspilot

I was told at F/O Charm School last month that it would be 3 smaller bids. All recalled by January with new hires shortly there after. ANC will shrink while SEA and PDX will grow. LAX stays about the same.

Homa

Thanks Aspilot...

Homa

Any updates? We must be getting close to the first bid coming out. Any info would be appreciated.

Aspilot

First bid should be out shortly. Rumors are that LAX will be shrinking "significantly" and will only operate 4 gates when we move to T-6. That is just rumor at this point! The system bid you are referring to may be for F/A's.

Fishfreighter

Just saw one of the F/Os coming off LOA in August. She confirmed BCP's May 20 bid date for September effective date.

I had to correct this. She's been on LOA for a couple years, so she'll need the full meal deal. She indicated she was coming back in August, but that might just be to start training.

Homa

No, I wasn't referring to an FA bid. I know nothing about what's going on among their ranks. I've just been hearing rumors from line pilots about our upcoming bids, bases shrinking, etc. What I've been hearing is that ANC is going to shrink by some 30 lines as that base is going to lose almost all of its Hawaii flying. The other thing I've heard is that crew planning has no clue (no surprise here) how they are actually going to staff the different bases. I hope they figure it out soon. If they want these bids to be effective some time in the Fall, we need to see the first of the small bids in the next few weeks.

Homa

Fish,

Thanks for the info. Any idea regarding numbers? I suspect a lot of ANC commuters will bail out and come back to SEA since the quality of their lines have already gone down.

cesnacaptn

From DM within the last week: Three planned bids, Nov 1st, Jan 31st, and May 1st. I've heard the rumor from two sources that the first bid will come out May 20th. A November effective date makes more sense to me than an August effective. Since they have to run recallees through the entire training footprint, that's almost 3 months to the line. I also recently had a check airman on the jumpseat and it sounds like most of them are out of the schoolhouse flying the line. He mentioned that he wanted to trade some of his sim sessions around, but there weren't many sim sessions taking place. Even with a Nov 1st effective date they will have to start training late summer. Maybe that's when they'll have enough new check airman certified.

A recent letter from LAX BCP SL, put the LAX base at around 55 lines if the co-terminal side letter doesn't get loosened up. Basically, only 50 lines are supported out of LAX airport. I don't have the side letter in front of me, but I believe it states that co-terminal lines can only equal 10% of the lines built out of LAX. Hence, the line pilots, and perhaps the BCP, are pushing for the side letter change. Obviously, guys that will do anything to keep LAX base the size it is, won't mind more lines out of SNA or lines being built out of ONT or BUR. Commuters and reserves might have a different opinion.

As for ANC, I thought the base was easily going to get whacked by 30-40 crews when ETOPS went to SEA. Now that I've seen the June lines, I'm not so certain anymore. Just a wag, but it looks like no more than 10% of the pairing are forced flying that "belongs" in other bases. Most of the pairings are Arctic, SE, HNL, ORD and the usual summer all-nighters to LAX, and DEN.

The only thing that would shock me in the next bid is if it's status quo.

Fishfreighter

The only numbers I've heard is SEA increase by 20-30 crews, PDX getting 5-7, ANC shrinking and LAX staying the same.