AS Recalls?

[Old School 737]

I forget how this works when it is a displacement bid. Can I choose to bid up to ANC if I want or do I have to be Displaced to go up there from Seattle?

 

[ghostrider16]

if you want it you can bid it and then go, that would save someone from being forced up there....if no FO/CAs want anchorage then the most junior will be forced up there, just like i was.

 

[Ocity]

Windfall for ANC. LAX has 8 year FO's on reserve.

 

[Dan Roman]

opps, meant to start a new string

 

[kingair1]

Sorry to hear that. However, keep it in perspective. You still have your job.

You got it !

 

[igneousy2]

if you want it you can bid it and then go, that would save someone from being forced up there....if no FO/CAs want anchorage then the most junior will be forced up there, just like i was.

My understanding is that the only people that could move in a displacement bid were people that were actually displaced.

The bid announcement said...
"In accordance with Section 24 of the Pilot’s Working Agreement with Alaska Airlines, the following positions will be backfilled by displacement."​

 

[alaskaplt]

We'll see if this bid stands anyway. I believe there is a good chance this is nothing more than trying to scare the Seatlle guys into going along with the Seattle etops base within a base. Oh but thats right, it's Brad running things now and he would never do that.

 

[Snapshot]

I forget how this works when it is a displacement bid. Can I choose to bid up to ANC if I want or do I have to be Displaced to go up there from Seattle?

No matter what the situation, the move is always the same. BID FOR WHAT YOU WANT.
If you can't hold it, you won't get it. If you bid for ANC and don't actually want to go there, you will lose the days off, moving expenses, and commuter status that comes with being displaced. If what you want is to go there so that a guy junior to you doesn't get displaced, then you're a hell of a guy and there is hope for the future of this pilot group.

You could fill volumes with the tragic stories of people who forgot to bid or Rainmen who tried to count the toothpicks.

 

[Rhino]

really?

You may bid your current status or what you want, but if there are not 10 captains and 14 FOs that bid ANC from SEA, then there will be displacements to ANC (very likely).

I see this as a "step bid for training". In other words, the company knows it needs "X" more pilots trained for ETOPS. So, they create a bid with 24 additional ETOPS pilots and by 1 April they have 24 guys to fill the new ETOPS base (under the yet-to-be-determined details). If (when) we have an ETOPS special qual base in SEA, then there will be a need for many more pilots than 24 to fill the requirements, so they are a month or so ahead of the training cycle.

My best guess is there will be some agreement before the end of February. Then it goes to the pilot group for ratification. Voted up or down I do not begin to guess. If it passes, then the company can award a new bid and begin training immediately with an effective date following closely behind the already-announced 1 April current bid.

So, if you are a junior SEA captain, my two cents predict a short (two or three month) displacement to LAX or ANC followed by a subsequent bid and an increase in overall SEA flying with domestic and ETOPS block hours/lines.

Either way, what we all need is an overall increase in block hours, sooner rather than later. Bring back our furloughed pilots, upgrade our former captains, and retire some of the "seasoned" veterans!

 

[igneousy2]

You may bid your current status or what you want, but if there are not 10 captains and 14 FOs that bid ANC from SEA, then there will be displacements to ANC (very likely).

I see this as a "step bid for training". In other words, the company knows it needs "X" more pilots trained for ETOPS. So, they create a bid with 24 additional ETOPS pilots and by 1 April they have 24 guys to fill the new ETOPS base (under the yet-to-be-determined details). If (when) we have an ETOPS special qual base in SEA, then there will be a need for many more pilots than 24 to fill the requirements, so they are a month or so ahead of the training cycle.

My best guess is there will be some agreement before the end of February. Then it goes to the pilot group for ratification. Voted up or down I do not begin to guess. If it passes, then the company can award a new bid and begin training immediately with an effective date following closely behind the already-announced 1 April current bid.

So, if you are a junior SEA captain, my two cents predict a short (two or three month) displacement to LAX or ANC followed by a subsequent bid and an increase in overall SEA flying with domestic and ETOPS block hours/lines.

Either way, what we all need is an overall increase in block hours, sooner rather than later. Bring back our furloughed pilots, upgrade our former captains, and retire some of the "seasoned" veterans!

The problem I see with this theory is that I'm sure the company realizes that the displacement and the ETOPS base are in all likelihood not the same pilots. ETOPS probably goes senior, displacements junior. So the 24 training slots is wasted unless you believe the company put enough thought into this scenario to guess that the 24 will probably end up being the reserve in SEA once the ETOPS base opens. That being said, that would require thinking 2-3 moves ahead which I haven't seen thus far.

I think the simpler answer is in play, they know for sure how many ETOPS hours they need to cover through Spring and a vague idea for summer. They divided the number of ETOPS hours by a certain value and out pops a number which represents the number of ETOPS pilots they need in the coming months. I'm sure they ran a few different scenarios (i.e. all LAX, split between LAX and ANC, etc.) and this came out the cheapest. They put a bid out fully intending to run with this scenario. If circumstances change they have lots of time to cancel this bid and do another bid if necessary.

As far as recalling, until we start seeing some actual increase in flight hours vs. the reshuffling of planes we have seen up until now I don't think we will see any significant recall anytime soon. Not to rain on anyones parade but the company has acted to try and cover summer without recalls. The company has only awarded the contractual minimum amount of vacation in the summer; also, the company is moving everyone's recurrent base month so that nobody - no students - no instructors - will be in the school house during the summer.

On the bright side, at least there are only 3 more years before we start kicking people off the top of the seniority list again.