At the rate of hiring, you'll get CLT out of training. Even though it might be longer SCR/LCR times, you'll fly more out of that base then any others on reserve.

DCA will probably benefit everyone and people will still get the bases they want. For example I am willing to bet a lot of senior CLT guys on reserve go to DCA for a line, same with DAY/CVG commuters who took the base for faster BU/R2/R1 lines.

I am betting the seniorty base breakdown will be:
1) CLT
2) DCA
3) TYS
4) CVG
5) DAY

More importantly the people that actually want CVG/DAY won't have to compete with commuters trying to avoid reserve in the commutatable bases anymore.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if DCA pushes PSA to completely full classes (they said each class could be a max of 36) thru the end of March 2017 at this point. AWAC guys will probably start trickling in as well.

 

So basically, the lower the R1 years number the faster one should be able to climb the proverbial ladder.

Thanks, I want to know what to look for as DCA changes the numbers in the coming future.

EDIT - and "holding a line" would equal being able to bid and be awarded at least BU ?

 

If you're awarded a BU line you'll at least know what your schedule is in advance and in theory not need a crashpad in your base, but you don't have much ability to modify your schedule apart from First Come First Serve trades with open time, which I don't have much experience with.

A R1 line gives you the flexibility of the SAP, which is golden.

 

When does the new base bidding start? I'm in the 1/16 hoping to hold CLT out of training for commuting purposes. I was hoping it would be after I started class for the reason of being assigned bases.

Can I assume now that all the NH classes will be assigned DCA?

 

Not necessarily. They'll likely hold a bid in a few weeks and based on its results new hires may or may not get it. But with all the hiring it shouldn't take long to hold whatever base you want.

 

Sounds reasonable. DCA will be the harder commute if I got it. DAY, CVG, TYS and DCA are all two leg commutes. But DAY, CVG, and TYS shouldn't be an issue since it isn't HUB -> HUB like DCA would be. I happen to live in one of the few states that doesn't have direct flights to DCA.

 

I'm not sure how big it will be to start. It may be a small base to start and grow from there.

 

What about Dulles or Baltimore? Pretty sure DCA is fairly easy to get to through one of those? Maybe someone else can chime in.

 

It wouldn't help me as either of those are still two legs. However, I'm still interested in the answer also.

 

I haven't looked, but I doubt if there are many flights running from IAD or BWI to DCA. I live in the area and they all serve roughly the same area. DCA is my closest airport and if I flew in or out of BWI or IAD, I wouldn't think of trying to catch another flight to DCA. Once at any of those airports, you look to ground transportation. If you are commuting to DCA, plan on trying to fly into DCA. You could find ground transportation from the other two, but it would be painful.