I believe he is referencing flight attendants.
pilot wise BWI and MCO got the majority of new hires

 

OAK has shrunk its FA base by close to 600 I believe.

 

Both could be true at the same time.

 

It should. No reason for it to be as big as it is. You can’t get out of there on time to save your life.

 

There are many reasons for it to be as big as it is, that have been discussed extensively in this thread and others.

Is your constant ability to ignore and dismiss the valid reasons for downsizing the Denver pilot base some sort of defense mechanism?

also pretty ironic complaining about the reliability of BWI from a DEN guy. DEN is consistently a far less reliable hub than BWI when it comes to weather and ATC delays. Ground ops has issues both places but BWI has significantly improved over the last year or so.

 

it's my defense mechanism. Its the only thing that gives me hope that they messed up and will regrow DEN. otherwise im going to be one grumpy guppy driver

 

Yup...I'll beat this dead horse until the stupidity ends.

Long as BoJo quotes Herb saying "employees come first" while simultaneously kicking them in the balls with forced commutes for stupid reasons....I'm gonna complain about it.

Every base has weather related issues. BWI only grew like it did because of the company's inability to create productive RE pairings that originate out west. They blame no RE rsv, but you don't need RE rsv as long as the first day doesn't have the RE leg....just like how they built the trips on the east coast. 15 hr rest also isn't required if you're based out west due to domicile time when you land in BWI. And DAL wonders why sick and commuter clause usage have skyrocketed. Only gonna get worse....if they think I'm gonna waste my summer in the back of a jet commuting....think again.

 

Disagree. This is obviously base specific, but I’d take a downgrade and sit at the top 15% of the FO list, flying turn lines, getting better vacations, and premium versus commuting to hold a crappy CA reserve or blank line, and eating all the costs and time away from home associated with commuting.

A senior FO (living in base) can net just as much money as a commuting CA with very little effort.

 

If VDT and POT is plentiful it wouldn’t be hard as a FO. If a CA is doing 120/mo a FO would have to do 170ish to earn the same. I know many FO’s who were clearing 2-300 tfp/mo last summer. 3 4 days and a 3 day at VDT gets you over 170 and you still have 15 off.

I’m gonna burn some sick time at CA pay and see how the vacancy bids go thru June before I pull that trigger.

 

Bear in mind that even as a junior captain, you can get POT and VDT as well. I've been cruising around 150 TFP per month since I upgraded almost 3 years ago. I also had some 180+ TFP months as a very junior captain. Pretty much anything whatever TFP I was making as an FO, I've been able to duplicate as a CA despite the juniority and commuting. YMMV... but I wouldn't downgrade. Just a perspective...