Swaayze said:
Don't y'all think that a large # of bypassers are planning to come back at their "last chance recall"? (I assume there exists such a system at UAL).
Yes, I do. Hence my cautiousness on starting a hiring pool by the end of this year.
But the recalls so far have been pilots who have been furloughed less than 3 years. I think that once they start hitting the 4+ year furloughees (approx #8070), a lot of them will never return. Many are at better gigs and have more seniority at their current company than they would at UAL. Many of those that took bypasses initially may also be at better gigs, just waiting until the last possible moment to decide which way to go with their career. For someone at JetBlue or Southwest, I wouldn't expect to see them return.
And just to clarify the recall process for everyone. UAL is going through the list in seniority order. A recallee has four choices: accept recall, accept recall and go on military leave, bypass, or resign. I don't think many (if any) have fallen into the fourth category. For those that bypass, they can elect to return at any later time as long as recalls are occurring.
Once the seniority list is depleted (#8915 is called), UAL goes back through the list in reverse seniority order and tells the bypasser that s/he either accepts recall at this time, or forfeits their seniority number. One exception to this is if they previously obtained an LOA (which usually runs ~2 years).
I am curious to see if, in two months or so, some bypassers decide to return to the 75/767. For those interested, (this is a bit dated) junior man in seat on the 75/76 is #7158 at ORD and #7147 at LAX and #6986 at DCA. 7147/7158 were hired 4/12/99, 6986 was hired 1/18/99, and all three were furloughed (not sure exact dates on furloughs/recalls for them). Other domiciles' junior man on 75/76: #6723 at JFK, #6681 at SFO, #6078 at DEN, and #5219 at SEA, none of whom were furloughed.
From UAL's flight ops website:
"The only initial assignment that may be given to a recalled pilot is one that has gone “unfilled” on a vacancy bid. The information below shows the unfilled vacancies from the vacancy bids that closed in Oct and Nov. Manpower planning decides which of the unfilled vacancies they will fill in each of the recall classes based on the most immediate needs of the operation. Not all of unfilled vacancies will necessarily be filled."
I don't know if any unfilled 75/76 slots have occurred yet, but rumor mill (Bob Neil; the go-to guy for UAL recall info) indicated to one furloughee that there should be a few 75/76 slots for returning furloughees this summer. FWIW.