Envoy
Seniority is everything folks! Don’t pass up class for 1 month or even a few weeks! It makes a great difference. Especially with the large hiring classes going on. Base selection, upgrade selection, displacement, flow, your quality of life; all seniority based. So many new hires entering 121 do not understand this concept! “Seniority is everything in this industry.”
Example: Those choosing to wait until January class dates to try and get Christmas off. I chuckled hard! Now those who did take the Dec class date will get 3 weeks paid time off with around round the clock per diem, plus great Travel Benefits! Plus time off due to any other training back log. Hit the line before March, get off reserve faster, have a shot a new base or base transfer to your home town....
You get Christmas off or whatever your excuses were. When he is bidding RAPs or proffering, or Line bidding, or requesting to drop a trip he gets what he wants before you because he took the December class. Wait until your on reserve, when he is RAP 1 and your RAP1, yet you get called in for a trip while he spends the day/days home with his wife and kids. Or worst you have to be displaced away your base. How about next December when he gets Christmas off, while you have to work it & also new Years because he is senior to you and bid to get “Christmas off”, while it could have been you.
So yes, enjoy your “Christmas Off.” But remember, Seniority is everything for further Christmas, birthdays, wife/husband anniversary, and learning the ropes, proffering, bidding, and upgrades, and base TDY, and equipment, and flow, and furlough, and flowbacks, and displacements, and forced upgrades, and you get my drift. At AA Indoc class, you get the E195 in PHL but your the youngest in that class now @ 34 and have to take that equipment & base but live near LAX. All because u wanted Christmas off (or any other good sound bit excuses) and took a later class date. Also AA and opportunity left on the table (opportunity cost): Where one month equals approx $15,000-$20,000+ left on the table due to lacking understanding of how Seniority is everything, and passing up class dates due to a false sense of slot security. Even if being picked up by Delta,United, SW, FedEx, UPS, was your goal. Same thing Seniority is everything!