Walmartgreeter:
I have gone down a little bid-over-bid, with a greater drop on bid 05-03. The A330 is a very attractive option when you eliminate commuting expenses, add international override pay, per diem, and working conditions. The B757 is an attractive option too, probably available sometime next year.
In regard to LGA, I know of 4 pilots senior to me who want to bid out of the base but cannot find an opening. The LGA commuting challenge is that hotel rooms are very expensive and "crash pads" are not very good. The Ramada is charging crews $139 per night and almost all entry level crash pads cost $200 per month, have about 20 people per unit, "hot beds", and are co-ed. Again, I'm extremely fortunate in this area too.
US Airways pilots will lose 5.4 B737 Captain positions per aircraft and the September bid has been rolled into October. According to an ALPA Bid Closing Committee member the September bid has accounted for all of the recent September aircraft reduction announcements.
From the bankruptcy court filing, US Airways will lose 20 B737s from October through February, which is another 108 Captain positions. In addition, there are no further aircraft reductions until 2009, however, GECAS could take out 11 more aircraft starting about 2 years from now and reducing the B737 fleet by 1 aircraft per month down to 210 jets.
Age 60 retirements, early retirements, and LTD attrition is fairly high with the average Captain age 55, the average F/O age 52, and the average pilot age 54. I suspect resignations for those below the age of 50 that cannot retire will moderate with pilots now believing they have more job security.
I'm sure you're faily close to my age, which is 49, thus we are relatively lucky in comparision to many of our colleagues who are age challenged with the current events.
Regards,
USA320Pilot