Juniority June 2021 (compared to April 2021)

 Here is a fun one; comparing the Juniority from the month before last to now. Enjoy.

Juniority - April 2021

If you are wondering what seniority looks like at SkyWest (for flight attendants) this is my "juniority" report. One year ago, we were all mostly sitting around. This year I think we're in for a lot less sitting around once Summer gets here. Either way, in the area of PBS bidding seniority fluctuates month to month. Below is the tally for April compiled using the Bid Information page and seniority list. 

Bidding During the Apocalypse

Crazy times. Mad times. Fun times. Bid Times.

Bid times... During the Apocalypse. 

In the words of Drew Carey, "The rules are made up and the points don't matter." Though unlike his show Whose Line Is It Anyway, the paychecks are real and quality of life is dependent upon what we do during these five days, the bidding window. I have always looked at PBS as if it were a 1980's Dos Prompt game that I had to figure out and get good at. I cut my teeth bidding in COS when the base went through several dramatic changes. I learned the "game" of the system to get a better paycheck, overnights or specific days off. That is exactly what we have to do here and now. That is how I must look at it, especially since it helps keep my sanity. 

First thing is first. The Bid Info page gives the overview. Denver has been hit pretty hard, finally, after being well off for April and partially May. DEN FA's have 158 Guaranteed Lines. For comparison, in December 2019, DEN had 254 guaranteed lines. While that is a 38% drop in lines looks bad, the problem isn't in the lines but in the average credit is 77 hours. The company has such low average hours because it is spreading what little flying there is, out. Imagine if the average was 98 hours! With the amount of pairings there are, that might mean as little as 100 lines (if that, probably less).

Now, the silver lining is that SIA signed an MOU that will allow line flight attendants to bid down to a very low amount of hours (0 hours, on paper) and allow bidding up to 100 hours. Still, unless they award a 70-100 more VTO's in DEN, flying is going to be super thin. Looking at where I sit in the seniority (63/346 or 18.2%), I have a good chance at being awarded 82-ish hours but probably not much more.

I would compare May to June, here, but as we know May's award was entirely cancelled and new pairing were created in its wake. Basically, how you bid and what you were awarded in May was all for nothing. Going into it, the name of the game would have been to be awarded the highest credit trips, because cancellation pay is still a thing and you wouldn't be flying half the work. I suspect that we'll see a few similar cancellations in June, but not to the scale that we saw in May or April.

In DEN the ER7 flying is way down. Way, way, down. So I probably won't get any ER7 trips even though there are some decent paying ones.

As far as those pairings go, I'm not seeing any that I really like. They run the gambit of a few being really high credit (a few I saw around 29 hour, four-days) but the most being really low credit. Almost all have crazy-long sits on turns and very short overnights. Hardly a single trip that I would consider good. Those long turns and short overnights will certainly produce two things - delays and frustrations - while going into the thick of Thunderstorm season. Adding more days flying in order to meet average credit and we could see folks working 16 - 18 days for only 77 hours of pay. Go work at a starbucks. You'll get paid the same for less work.

My advice for those of you not taking VTO, brace for some terrible frustration or intentionally bid reserve since that guaranteed pay check is easier than an average line will pay. Still, I hate reserve life. I want to fly. I'm going to suck it up.

*Update, 5/13/20 - CQ was cancelled again for June. I DQ July 1  31. Sucking it up is what I do. That doesn't mean I am good at it.

**Update 5/14/20 - So DEN had 100 FA's be awarded VTO. That changes my bid seniority to 34 instead of 63. Time to refine my bidding strategy entirely, only 20 hours left until bid closes.

Juniority December 2019

It has been two years since I last did a "Juniority" post. Since then two new domiciles have opened, DFW and LGA. It seems that the amount of reserves in each domicile has stabilized when compared to previous years. The past was rough. That was why I left Colorado Springs for Denver. Honestly, I still consider Colorado Springs to be a de facto closure, but that's in the past and here we are walking into 2020. If this month sucked, you can make the next better. Be savvy. Merry Christmas!

A Lot of Change

After about two years of being down, I have the blog back up. It is still loaded with good tips and good historical observations, but a lot has changed. No longer are we bidding from the 10th-18th now. It is a smaller five day window.

We have lots of new aircraft and lots of new flying and employees. Those of us have have stuck around this long are few and far between!

This blog might still help someone bid well. I hope it does and for that I am glad to have the blog back up.



Merry Christmas,
Ron