Tigflt17

Most likely after our vacancy and awards post

acam

How much do first-year FO's normally fly?

TheWeatherman

Had just under 700 hours logged in the E170 by my anniversary date. That year included initial training, IOE, and 3 months of reserve.

direct2entent

10/15 class
2 MCI
12 PIT
20 EWR

Longhornmaniac8

Thanks for the info!

Longhornmaniac8

When does the November vacancy period open? Is that something that I'll be able to see and/or participate in as a 10/30 hire?

Could someone explain a bit about how the standing vacancy system works?

And how is it processed? Obviously by DOH, but is it structured such that I would be able, as a new hire, to see who has bid into what vacancy up to that point to know where I would and wouldn't be able to hold? Or is it all basically blind?

Since I'm less than a week away from Indoc, I'm trying to plan as well as possible to maximize my chances for getting a base I'm happy enough with until I can hold IAH. ORD is probably tops for me simply due to accessibility, followed by IND and MCI.

Tigflt17

-It came out today and open until 11/30. No you cannot (read below) as your class will get what’s left but usually one of the new hire bases.

-Company decides what bases needs what, then pilots update their standing bid. Awarded by DOH. Use the last bid information from this thread to see how long each base takes to get. IAH is about 5-6 months to get awarded it. You do not get Flica information until roughly two weeks later so you will not be able to participate in this one.

-Company did not post ORD openings for the second straight month, so only filled based if others either left company, upgraded, or switched bases. Last month I believe two got these back filled spots. IND and MCI you can get immediately. Again, one of the new hire bases you can plan on

Longhornmaniac8

Awesome, so I'll plan on bidding whatever during indoc, and then using the December vacancy bid to go after something else if I can't get what I want as a new hire. Based on the training delay and the time training takes, I should be finishing up with IOE right around the time that the December bid goes into effect.

Thanks for the run-down! I hope I get to pay all the knowledge I've gotten here forward before too long.

Web265

It really depends on a lot of variables. When I went in to indoc (May) we did the whole thing without the break. We bid for our first bases and were told we were going into either PIT, IND or LGA I think. So we bid those in the order we wanted them then added the rest in order.

Later, while still in class, a system bid came up for November and we bid with the entire FO group, seniority was deciding factor for base.

You can get a sense once you see the vacancies and you know your seniority but you have no way of knowing who above you is bidding what. I was senior in my class but didn't get my base as a vacancy award, I got it as a backfill from someone who left the base I wanted on that vacancy.

You also can put all the bases in order of desirability so you don't have an all or nothing bid, meaning, your bid can always be for IAH, then ORD as #2, IND as #3 etc.

I realize this creates anxiety at some level but, you have to understand you don't have a lot of control over your first base, we had a choice of three, you may get what you want or close to it on your first or second vacancy bid. You may have a better chance because you will have the benefit of extra time between your hire date and first base. There's too many variables to be sure.

The instructors will give you a lot of intel on commutability etc

Looks like the jr FO in IAH this month is a 02/06/18 hire

Guess I took too long to answer LOL...

Longhornmaniac8

I appreciate you responding anyway! It's a slightly different perspective, and I think you make a lot of good points.

Cheers!