crazy long for cpt. Any idea how many have it as their base of choice? Curious if this will ever go down once the FAT get in.

I think you can find this on the SWAPA > resources > src tools > pick a vacancy view.

Im showing (guessing still the last vacancy) that 44 FOs were bidding MCO captain. Not sure the number of captains bidding it.

But the number that matters is, when can you hold a line.... Being on reserve for another 10 years because the geezers keep sliding in above you for their last 5 years is not appealing.

just flew with a cpt. He luves in MCO and commutes to hold cpt elsewhere. He upgraded 3 yrs ago. not even close to holding it in MCO. I think he said he was 41 away. Which might take many more yrs to hold plug.

There are always a ton of folks waiting to get back into MCO after commuting to upgrade. I know more than a few of them that got sick of commuting, and bid back to MCO FO until they could hold CA. I know several that didn't even want to sit reserve as a CA, and waited until they could hold a line to bid it.

Depends on how much you hate commuting.

IME, driving to the worst line or even reserve is exponentially better than commuting to the best line. As always, YMMV........

This 100% for me as well.

And I have decided commuting to the left seat is better than driving to the right seat.

Only so many years you can 'chameleon' with some of the MCO folks. :D

FYI - The SWAPA site says there are 72 people senior to me who have MCO CA as their bid that aren't currently holding it. Like someone mentioned, once you get in, it's back to weekend RSV for years.

Understood! I don't know how you folks do it for as long as (some of) you do.

To be fair, there are a few odd ducks camping near the top of the FO list too..... Fortunately, 2 of my 3 "avoidance" FOs are gone. One upgraded and the other moved to TX. There are a few that are newer to the base that the jury is still out on.

Like I said, it depends on how much you hate commuting.

If there's a light at the end of the tunnel, how long you expect to do it (months/years?) and how much you hate reserve also come into play.

I did the airplane commute for almost 10 years, and loathed every second of it.

I lived 3 hours from MCO when it opened.

To avoid commuting to reserve, I lanced in MDW for 7 months (and one in MCO to take advantage of VA bidding, which occurred in August, the month MCO opened, back then) before flipping the switch to full CA.

I was very junior on the MCO CA list, and fully expected to be stuck on reserve for years. I'd planned on driving up in time to put me within the 2 hour callout window on the first day, and knew I could always drive home at the end of the block.

Things changed after 9/11, which happened the month after MCO opened. I got a crash pad but only stayed in it a few times in the 6 months I had it. Senior folks were bidding reserve and not getting used, so I never sat a day of reserve.

The 3 (which eventually morphed into 4 and sometimes 5 during the 18 years I did it) hour drive always sucked, but I never spent the night in MCO unless I was flying the next day and most of the time, was far less stressful than an airplane commute.

Like I also said, YMMV.

Congrats on the upgrade!