Vacancies for Jan are PHX, LAS and MCO. If you have a great QOL driving to work or an easy commute to work Tues-Thurs trips and can clear your board and pick up at will.....not sure why you'd commute cross country for a 4th stripe. I'd guess some sr guys who've bypassed and can hold the schedule they want in the other seat might jump at it since it's winter and no threat of having your Spring break/summer plans messed with....especially with fewer upgrades after Feb. My guess is the bottom 20% of the CA seniority list isn't going to change much.....I'm planning on a lot of rsv next year (I'll bid blanks for VA and summer months but that's about it)

 

The other side of the coin is that when I upgraded 1.5 years ago, the new contract was not yet in.

FOs at the 60% threshold have much more ability to pick lines that help with bidding OT than a junior captain does, can hold the vacations and holidays they want, and with the better pay scales, senior FOs can make nearly the same (or more) than a junior captain.

Upgrading across the country for the same pay and worse schedules (reserve) plus limited to no movement would be a head scratcher at this point.

Pretty much same point you made. Hard agree.

 

Kicking 70 mid-level captains out of ATL is going to shake things up. There are going to be some displaced jr capts not having fun and maybe even a few bidding back to fo. I'm a top 10% fo in my base with no plans to upgrade until movement really starts up again.

 

I would argue a senior FO can out earn a junior CA easily while still maintaining a better qol. I see no reason why anyone would upgrade in this environment unless they were very senior system wide and have been bypassing for years.

 

Um, for the chicks?

 

I live in base and bid rsv and then pick up a few days a month when they don’t call me in. Figured I’d hit it hard this year since I might never see this kind of W-2 again with the retro we got. No way I could’ve made this much as a Sr FO…I’d have had to clear 200/mo all year long. Upgrade when you’re jr with no movement would only make sense if you’re fine with whatever weekend schedule you get in whatever base you can hold (likely only doing it if you need the $ for college tuition or something).

 

Yeah, it's a bit of a fallacy to say that you only have to get ~127 trips to mature captain pay. That's LG, which nobody flies unless you don't get used on reserve a single time and never get weather or have to deice. Even if you take an extremely mild 100tfp, that goes up to 142 for the FO. Doable, even without a huge amount of effort, but you're likely working more than the captain just flying their line. Have one good LCO trip in a month and you're up to needing over 170tfp as an FO.

That being said, it is definitely correct that your schedule goes to suck city when you're junior, although with a little effort, you can still get the stuff mostly off weekends, if that's your jam.

 

I did get weekends off next month…only had to work all 4 holidays to get it. 😂

Saw my CP not long after UOE…he said, “your schedule sucks now, don’t let this place make you miss important family things because you can’t trade off it. That’s what sick time is for”….Upgrade and the sick time is worth 40%
more…🫣

 

That is one super cool CP!

 

Some of the best CPs realize that as hard as scheduling and training scheduling are pushing us, sick calls are a great way to manage our personal capabilities.

Unfortunately the system CP said "eff the world" and changed all of this with a new system-wide policy that removed CP's authority to allow pilots the choice to pull trips sick with or without pay. After the policy change, all sick pulls MUST be paid out of sick bank, instead of optionally pulled without pay.

As a result, several pilots including myself are flying sick and/or injured in order to preserve sick bank. I haven't had an FAA observer on any of my flights but I'd be happy to discuss my decision process and the company change in policy with them, should they inquire why I don't use my right arm very much while at work. I can do the job, it just hurts like hell. Thanks SWA system CP!