Les,
As far as bidding your base, here's what will happen:
You submit a bid that ranks each base (also where you want to do IOE, and where you want to spend the remainder of the month after you finish IOE until you start in your "real" base (i.e. OAK) at the beginning of the next month). They show you exactly how to do this on the computer, although not until a couple of weeks into training.
Then you get results a week or two before your IOE. In the case of somebody who lives in MSY, MCO or HOU would both be pretty convenient for doing IOE & the partial month. As far as the vacancy bid goes, your class bids along with every other pilot in the system, and since y'all have the lowest seniority, you get whatever slots nobody else wants that month. Historically, that means you all go to OAK, although if the class after you is bidding in the same month that you are, some folks may skip OAK entirely & go to MDW or PHX or (maybe) BWI right out of training. And in that case they probably will never have to see OAK. (Has anybody here mentioned that timing is everything !?! )
Your first month on the line, you get a hard line. After that, you get what your seniority can hold, which generally means reserve for several months. Your second month on the line, you may have another class (or two) who has now finished training & is on the list, and they have boosted your seniority. Again, you get whatever vacancy your seniority can hold... if there are open slots left in PHX when the sorting computer gets to you, you can have one. Of course, you'll be at the very bottom in PHX, instead of slightly higher in OAK; higher on the list within base means better choice of monthly schedule... having some control of the days you're on reserve, getting a hard line sooner, etc.
And so on each month.
All you have to do is tell the computer your rank order preference of bases, and it will go from there. No need to resubmit each month (unless your preferences change), and no "gaming" the system... if you want HOU first, put it at the top of the list. If a slot is available in HOU your 2nd month on line (rare, but not impossible -- helps to have lots of people coming in right after you), you'll get it.
They'll explain the process pretty completely in training, and it will all make good sense by the time you're doing it for real.
Cheers!
Snoopy
