Was I hired in January 2005 or December 2005? See the difference? Guess when I was hired? I've been at CAL just under two years. I don't need to get too specific here.

 

hired or class date? big difference. my roommate was hired in nov. 02 with a class date in jan 06.

 

There are 57 retirements in November 2006 alone. I got this from the MEC Chairman's Report on the CAL ALPA website. I used to have a number of pilots retiring per year for the next decade, but I can't find it right now.

The retirements are high at CAL.

When I say 200 or 100 from upgrade, I'm estimating anyway. It is close to that and the number gets smaller every day. That number is based on the most junior pilot to hold Captain on the LAST bid. That could change on the next bid and I may or may not be able to hold CA depending on what others do.

Either way, the upgrade time is going to be good at CAL.

 

One is not "Hired" until one gets a seniority #. A job offer is not the same thing as being hired...........Hence the term "Date of Hire"

 

I was interviewed and "hired" in 1997, my class date was 2005.

 

how did that happen???

 

probably a flowthrough from the Embraer. We had a similar deal at Eagle, although did not work out as well at CAL's

 

If he doesn't pick CAL - have them give me a call!!

 

Ha ha, When I interviewed at USAir in 1989 they said it was a five year upgrade. That's because pilots hired five years previously were currently upgrading. It never ceases to amaze me how illogical that line of thinking is. there were 3000 pilots hired at Piedmont and USAir between 1984 and 1989. I was at the tail end of that, so while it was true in 1989 that the guys hired in 1984 were upgrading, there was no way in the world that a guy hired in 1989 would be so fortunate.

The same will be true for CAL or any other airline. YOU CAN NOT PREDICT AN UPGRADE BASED ON WHAT SOMEBODY HIRED TWO OR THREE YEARS AGO AT CAL IS DOING !!!! Your upgrade time at CAL could be vastly different if you were hired today versus having been hired two or three years ago. The guy hired two years ago was hired at the very beginning of a major hiring wave. He will be fortunate, you may not be.

You must do the math for yourself. Look at future fleet growth and retirements and calculate the time it would take for you to get half way up the seniority list. That will be the best estimate of your upgrade time.


Typhoonpilot

 

I agree with everything you say except the 50% part. Right now our most junior captain is in the 77 or so percentile. Before 9/11 it was about 65%, after 9/11 it was about 58%. However once we crossed that imaginary line of a particular size pilot group it started to go very junior. For example each new captain position probably went four to six seniority numbers to fill the slot.