Originally Posted by
gloopy
I almost thought they were getting it until this. I don't care what aircraft the company thinks are needed on those routes or if RJ's really will lead to larger jets some day. That doesn't matter. What matters is the fact that the overwhelming vast supermajority of the LGA growth is outsourced. Would it be "better" if all the growth was "mainline" 737-900's but flown by Alaska pilots? The company can put all the ultra high CASM, ultra high fuel per passenger, super narrowtube low capacity RJ's they want on super premium slot controlled markets but we need to be the ones doing the flying and we are not. That is inexcusable and the urgency for massive scope recapture has just significantly increased. That should have been what that letter said but it fell quite short IMO.
Of course, the the letter has a certain context to it. Yes, they did not go to the point of saying, "RJ's need to be flying by us," but the fact is the Slot swap had nothing to do with recapturing RJ flying. Mainline growth, yes, but not by scope recapture. Again, the kept the letter in the context of the slot swap, and what "assurance" were made.
As with everything, if the pilot go gravitate to the next shiny ball, and do not continually state their discontent with what the company did here, then nothing will ever by gained.