FriendlyPilot

Once again the newest vacancy bid has unfilled vacancies. This time instead of just being on the coasts, they are also in DEN and ORD. So DEN, ORD, LAX, SFO, EWR and DCA have unfilled Captain bids. Only IAH has filled all the bids, with the most junior Captain a bit over a year on the property.

I don’t know that “new bases” are going to solve the problem, because as pilots lateral from other bases into these new bases, they just create backfills that have to be filled. I personally know people that turned down United and went to Southwest because they lived in DEN and were told at United it took 20 years to hold Captain in DEN at United, and now they are telling me its at least 10 more years before they can hold Captain at Southwest and here we are with unfilled Captain slots.

The problem is they already turned down or left United to go to SWA, so I don’t think United would hire them again.

BobbyLeeSwagger

Bingo. Look at how all the common knowledge got destroyed in the last 12 months. Shoot, when I was coming here we still thought IAH 737 FO would take 2 yrs to hold. And we thought that was quick!

UALinIAH

Not saying it won’t hold. It very well may, but there were unfilled in DEN and ORD CA’s up until the very end on previous bid snapshots. Today is the first snapshot and it was taken less than 24 hrs after the bid was announced. History says it will change greatly before it closes.

RaginCajun

Pretty sure the majority of eligible are waiting on the sidelines to see how TA2 plats out....to include about 40% of TK.

KnightNight

Everything subject to change before the end. I’m concerned about not being in the seat I want to be in when the wave crashes. I’m optimistic we can prevent that happening before next summer with what they projected with the earnings and hopefully by then recession, oil prices and inflation stabilize a bit.

Bid what you want, want what you bid 🤣🤪

KnightNight

Right, if reserve changes significant you might be stuck at the bottom for jumping early. But at same time if wave crashes you might have missed your shot.

EwrRocks

This. ^^^^^^

If you think TK and LCA staffing is an issue now, wait to see what happens now if no TA2 is passed soon. For senior TK instructors it’s hard to continue to justify the amount of annual money lost to stay. For junior TK instructors it’s hard to justify the large amount of money lost being capped at FO rates while everyone can hold PIC. More and more TK now commutes because of how expensive it is to buy house in Denver. For LCA, the current pay and QOL issues are burning them out.

United next will be very hard to pull off without a passage TA soon.

Hedley

Starting in a few months we will have a new plane being delivered approximately every 3 days. In the past captain vacancies came at a much slower pace and there were sufficient numbers wanting to upgrade. Today there are an unprecedented number of vacancies. Part of the lack of interest is contractual (a big part), part could be generational. Younger pilots today tend to place less emphasis on money and more on time off and QOL than previous generations. So what is the best solution that would be acceptable to both the pilot group and the company?

1. Better work rules, especially dealing with reserve to take the sting out of being junior in the seat. What realistic (meaning that both sides would accept) rules would be needed?

2. Widen the gap in pay between captain and first officer to encourage those more financially motivated to bid captain? Would a significant difference in pay encourage senior pilots to bid off of the WB and into a NB captain seat?

3. Slow the expansion to levels that can be maintained without significant improvements to change the status quo?

4. A suitcase that fits the bag storage on the 737?

5. A combination, if so, how to construct it?

JTwift

I guarantee the absolutely biggest reason for the unfilled is due to reserve rules. Our schedulers have nothing preventing them from completely jacking around someone’s schedule with endless FSB/SC assignments.

delta long call can be converted to short call 6 times a month (I think that’s correct). And that’s it. Their reserve can often go senior, which is how reserve should be, in my opinion. If reserve rules were built correctly, the senior people should WANT to bid reserve. Alas, we’re in the current spot where our reserve rules suck so incredibly bad that people will wait 15 years to go WBFO just so they can make sure they hold a line.

as a commuter, I’d much prefer to have where I could bid for a single short call block, for example. So, let me commute up, sit short call (or FSB, whatever) for 5 days, and whether you use me or not, that’s it!

then I can sit LC from home. That’d be a huge improvement from what we have now.

KnightNight

Lots of people coming off probation now too, every week 50-70. I’m not saying they all take the upgrade, but it’s a huge pay raise for not much of a bump schedule wise especially if you live in base.

Hoping I’m wrong and reserve rules improve.