November '11 Bid's Nuts & Bolts and a Tri-anniversary-thingy.

Hiatus. It has been nice. Am I back? Well, at least for this month and quite possibly December.

Within this year IAH, MSP, SEA, and PDX have opened (or expanded respectfully) as crew domiciles and in just another month PHX will open. Every one of those have had an impact on COS flying. COS was the first into IAH, IAD, and MSP and while I don't think PHX will be a game changer, I do know that Mesa used to fly PHX-COS on the '50. Those flights were usually full more times than not, too.

As for my Hiatus? I have wanted to focus on my family and distance myself for the workplace. Maybe I have been a work-a-holic at times and so it has been nice to take a few steps back and enjoy the Fall, my favorite time of year.

By the way, the Arkansas Razorbacks are currently 5-1.



So, what's going on in November? Well, some very interesting stuff according to Frank Bowling who is once again the SAPA RSR for DEN/COS. That guy is a smart one. Apparently, our major partners are giving us more late night flights and more FFODs than they are mid-day flights. That alone is causing our pairings for November to be less efficient. Now, remember, this is a holiday month too so things can get just wacky.

Last November (2010), I had vacation awarded. Not this time around. I'm bidding for it baby! So this is where the proverbial rubbing meets the seniority road. I did the math and even with several people on vacation through Thanksgiving I am still senior to the 13 or 14 pairings that go over Thanksgiving.

I am tempted to pick up an AM local on Thanksgiving Day so that I don't have to do all the cooking and prep work (insert evil laugh). But, alas, for those one or two of you who just might read this far down... Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is something of a mood setter and I'll want that day off. Before I start going all Nuts and Bolts on you (which I am actually going to skip), let's take a look back in time:

Christmas Tree November '09.
Christmas Tree November '10.

This November Bid is officially the third anniversary that this blog has been up, sorry to those who wanted it down. :)

In '09 my domicile seniority was 40 of 67 (59.7%).
In '10 my domicile seniority was 38 of 62 (61.3%).
This year, life is good. 31 of 73 (42.5%).

Funny how even a couple numbers can make the difference between a great life and a terrible one. 2010 was rough. 2009 was worse though. 2011 has been on the up and up. I'm sure hoping 2012 kicks butt and it is shaping up to do just that.

Okay... enough of all the reminiscing and crying... I'm moving on to the next post. The Strategy!!!