UAL bid today - No freeze carry over for 767

[Huggyu2]

It closes at 1400 Chicago time today.
For those of y'all on military leave, realize this:
if you know when you're going to go back to UAL and you won't have a freeze when you do, you probably don't want to bid anything. Why? Because when you go back, you'll be able to bid into anything where there is someone junior to you. If you bid the 767 now, you'll pick up a 3 year freeze. If you don't bid it, no sweat: you'll still be able to go there when you return to UAL.

Not true, though, if you still have a freeze when you return.
Good luck.

 

[Andy]

Huggy, I'm on mil lv already holding a 767 slot. I'd recommend to all of my mil lv bros to bid for the 767 if they're on the LCO. Why? Because of the 16% B/C fund contributions. The difference can be significant. And if you're on mil lv for longer than 36 mos, it just doesn't matter.
A guy on mil lv taking a 767 slot doesn't take away a 767 slot; it remains there until filled by an active pilot. It's a paper bid, just as a TK instructor bid is a paper bid.

If I were on the LCO, no matter how long I was on mil lv, I'd bid for the 767. I don't see any advantage to waiting until returning.

 

[Huggyu2]

Great input! I didn't know that about the extra funding.
If I'm looking at the right thing on Skynet, it looks like there were no 767 F/O's awarded in this bid, but the next one has 8 for ORD and 8 for LAX projected.

 

[Huggyu2]

If I were on the LCO, no matter how long I was on mil lv, I'd bid for the 767. I don't see any advantage to waiting until returning.

Maybe I misunderstand you, but here's why I'm going to hold out:
1. The way United is interpreting USERRA, if you have no freeze when you come off of mil leave, you can go anywhere in the system where there is someone junior to you. If you have the freeze, you don't get that benefit.
2. You get no benefits while on mil leave WRT getting extra B or C fund value: that extra money doesn't kick in until you finish training on that bigger aircraft.

Based on this, there is no advantage to putting in a bid. BUT, if you've can poke holes in my reasoning, please do.

 

[Andy]

Huggy, I haven't dug through the details, but #1 doesn't sound right to me.
For #2, the money goes into your B/C fund within 3 months of return. I thought that it was based on aircraft held during mil leave, not aircraft trained into upon return.

Do you currently have a seat lock? If not, I see your point, but how junior are 777 & 747 bids going? I'd have a seat lock no matter what, so no big deal. Besides, I figure that the rules will change if they need more people to upgrade to larger equipment and I've got a shorter seat lock than almost everyone junior to me - I bypassed a few classes, but that puts less than 300 who are below me with marginally shorter (4 months or less) seatlocks. So none of the newhires will be in larger equipment than me if I decide to bid for the 777 or 747.

For those on mil leave already in a seat lock, it's my understanding that if they get a 757 bid, the seatlock applies all the way back to their recall.

 

[Andy]

Off topic, Huggy, when are you retiring?

I'm considering retiring spring 2009.