how long to hold a west coast base and how long to upgrade in that base and be off reserve?

Maybe 1/2 year to get there. 5-6 to upgrade and about 7-8 to hold a line.

A few reasons: the bases have fleshed out and schedules have stabilized so there are more options for commuters. Also, as the 700's for UAL have disappeared, there are many senior people who feel that the 200 and its schedules are beneath them so they're choosing the big comfy new plane. Finally, since SEA/LAX/SFO get DL benefits there is no loss for those making the switch on the west coast.

UAL and AK deliveries are done end of Q2, and those classes have pretty much already been awarded for that staffing. All that's left is DL. ORD got 22 awards with 14 posted on the DVR, which tells me they got an extra plane allotted instead of sending it west to DEN or the coast. Every credible rumor is that classes will slow way down after spring except for maybe a handful of small ones for attrition. With the exception of ORD I expect to see 175 CA go much more senior from here on out.

Who said classes are slowing down?? Ive heard full steam ahead..

No slowing down, not sure where you heard that but it's wrong. look at all the recruiting events in next few months.

While not doom and gloom, 175 training will have to decrease as it goes from attrition & growth training to training for just attrition.
They even mentioned they expect to spend less money on training after the next two quarters on the call....if they don't secure more growth.

The training for the 5 more AK birds has not happened yet. PDX alone will grow by 30 to 40 crews in the next few months.

Two separate issues here, ignoring the bonus for now.

Since the company exercised its right to raise 1st year pay to $ 36.50/hr, the year 1 to year 2 bump is the smallest that it's ever been. Always used to be a pretty good raise. Now, it's only $1.21/ hr (base rate).

Yeah sorry! To correct myself I was assuming CRJ. Not really sure one ERJ side since they're more west coast

So you're saying first year pay should be lower so there's a bigger bump? :p year to year it goes up $2 or so along all Years so pretty consistent.