Originally Posted by
shoelu
You guys are absolutely comical. You attempt to paint SWA as "Satan with Epaulettes", yet you plot and scheme to do the exact same thing you berate us for. If I understand your argument (and I think I do), you want to take current aircraft flying Delta code but at a completely separate airline and bring those aircraft and that flying to the Delta certificate but staple those pilots to the bottom of the Delta seniority list. You want to work out a deal that is unfavorable to their seniority, but provides them with long term potential gain in stability, pay and work rules. You would need to work out some type of arrangement through the mutual agreement of both groups prior to this happening because you would fear the potential outcome of an arbitrated seniority list in this case. Does that sum it up pretty well? The hypocrisy of this board is absolutely STUNNING. I guess the Delta Connection carriers don't measure up to the Delta threshold of pilots that deserve fair treatment that you so willingly hand to the AirTran folks, because they after all only fly RJ's. Next time you choose to throw stones, please do so into the mirror.
A couple quick points- it's not hypocritical because:
- Well first, was the reason to staple AAI pilots based on the size of the 717 in the first place or because SWA > AAI?
- To staple just because of the size of the 717 inevitably means you're stapling 737 pilots too, they're the same list. There isn't a DCI... sigh outside of RAH... that flies an airplane that is the same size of a mainline Delta jet.
- BTW, if size matters most, the 717 can 117 seats, the 735 is 122. But the 717 is 2 class. What is a single class 717? What if it's 123 seats? Would it then be okay to staple a proportional number of SWA pilots to the bottom of the AAI list? That's why its not size based including with DCI, the reason for a staple if not because of size. See next point...
- Now say DAL merged with JB who has A320s and E190s. Do we staple the E190 pilots? imho, no. Do you DOH? JB pilots would baulk at that and rightfully so. You need to ratio in but where? Probably where the most senior DAL pilot in NYC on a A320 sized aircraft sits. That's a guess. But we're not stapling because of size, that's not why we say DCI should be stapled.
- The CRj900/E175/DC9/MD88/735/733/717 are regional aircraft. Stated another way, the 717 and 735/733 are regional aircraft. You'd need to merge the 717 and 735/733 pilots together at the bottom thus no staple. But what about at DAL? The CRJ900 does JFK-ATL just like the 88! Why staple the CRJ900 pilots? Well, you know who else does JFK-ATL? The 757, 88, 320, 764, 767 and A330. So does the CRJ900 = A330 in terms of career expectations? Nope. That's why you don't merge based on that issue.
Now why do we say a staple is wrong for SWA-AAI? Because we think they're apples to apples airlines. Your career expectations in terms of aircraft size is identical and I think AAI was on the verge of a 738 order right? Still identical to SWA. But why are DAL-DCI not apples-to-apples operations? Who can scope who? And what are the career expectations of a DCI pilot?
But for the record Shoe, I want to end DCI, not merge with it. Then I want to hire.
I see nothing good coming from a merger. How much of ASA do you take when some of the flying is UAL Exp? How much of Skywest do you take or do you just favor Comair and ASA? But what about Pinnacle, Mesaba and Compass? Do you put those other regionals over Compass who have a complete flow through and were hired by NWA? How about RAH? Who do we take? Shuttle, CHQ, Frontier pilots, mixture of both?
Too much of a headache. Just be glad SWA never had a single turboprop flying off property for them. Seating size masked the CRJ-100's entry into the system. AMR had the right idea, we fly all jets. But they didn't win that war and that was a loss. It's a road your airline, and FedEx for that matter, never went down in the first place. You're lucky and just be thankful you don't have this battle to fight.