I agree 100% that arguing contracts is pointless. However skywest has no legally binding contract. One list is worth it to me, I feel bad for all of my expressjet friends. For instance, the guy that lives with me is from the west coast and would kill to get back there. The only reason skywest management doesn't want one list is they don't want skywest to raise the pilot costs through a contract. IMHO at least. One list for those guys would be fair.
Originally Posted by
rickair7777
In all seriousness, congratulations on your contract. I was pleasantly surprised that you guys were able to make as much progress as you did.
That said, you are a little premature coming off with a COMAIR-like attitude...a few months ago you guys were barely better than mesa. Also your contract appears to have slightly better CA scales than SKW but nothing earth-shattering. Did you get full pay for deadheads? We'd probably have to get into all the details to really compare apples to apples.
My previous alpa experience leads me to conclude that no regional pilot contract is really enforceable because regional pilots as a group are too ignorant, uneducated, and/or underfunded to beat off the high-power labor law firms employed by management. Alpa national and the majors are not much better off. SKW doesn't ever change the contract without our agreement, rather they "re-interpret" existing language. That has become a common practice throughout the industry and very few pilot contracts are safe from it.
Hopefully everyone is learning and future contracts will contain airtight language, not some random thoughts scribbled on a bar napkin.
As for the OP with his seniority he's probably looking at a long upgrade either way (unless the pilot shortage materializes and he gets hired out of the right seat). I don't see anything about either airline that would make it worth a transcon commute, so if he can live in or near base that's the one I would go with.
If for some reason you're planning on a career at a regional then you have to consider long-term corporate viability. It's a reasonable assumption that the feed industry will take a catastrophic hit in the next 5-15 years due to fuel costs, pilot shortage, congestion/slot limitations, and/or a mainline scope take-back. In that case you want competent stable managers who will not be the first rats off the ship, and loads of cold hard cash.