Upgrades for March
 

Did anyone get passed over for upgrade in March on the Ejet that bid for it? The number of upgrades is the lowest I have ever seen it.

They put out a bid for 20 and only took 2 for upgrade. What is up with that? I am struggling to believe that only 2 qualified FO’s bid.

I believe it. Most of the FOs I've flown with lately, I would NOT rec for upgrade. Good talent is dwindling.

A lot of guys won’t upgrade because they commute and can hold a schedule as FO that fits their needs, and a lot of guys don’t want to sit reserve.

You may be right. And, the FO’s that did upgrade in March are very senior FO’s. Probably on their second (or third) attempt.

I also know the talented FO’s are being sucked out. One guy just went to Atlas.

In the past, there have been FO’s that received a CA award that I would never recommend, yet someone decides to recommend them. To the training departments’ credit, many of those FO’s do seem to come back to the line as FO’s and not as CA’s. However, getting a recommendation doesn’t appear to be a stumbling block.

The difference is a result of qualified bidders, not because the company chose to award less.

(I asked).

Thanks. Filler. It just seemed exceptionally low number of upgrades on both airframes.

My last few FOs were very sharp, but told me they are putting off upgrade because of reserve. Maybe the company should revise the way they treat reserves. 10 hours of ready reserve in our crew room (IAH anyway) sucks.

While reserve rules could always be improved - everywhere - ours are on the good side of all the regionals I've looked at. Way better than Sky West and many others. There are some with better rules - sure - but ours really aren't terrible. The crew room in IAH I have not seen though.....

It exists in IAH. They just don’t stick around the crew rooms.

There is no way the IAH crew room (which I’ve never seen) is worse than IAD. It’s too small the fake leather on the recliners is peeling, window blinds are missing fridge is too small. It’s really a slum. If the 700s get extended it need to be addressed.