Originally Posted by
Scoop
Guys,
Most, if not all majoirs have 100 seat and lower Scope. DAL is at its limit for 76 seaters, and just about at its combined limit for 70 and 76 seaters.
AMR management is trying for 88 scope right now - this is currently the front line of the scope battle and management has the weapon of a 1113 BK motion. Lets all hope the APA dodges this bullet.
Finally, there is a huge misconception that mainline pilots do not want to fly anything less than 100 seats. This is mostly incorrect. Yes, in the early and mid 90's many guys did not want to be bothered with the small jets. This was a very foolish outlook and all Pilots are currently paying the price for this lack of foresight.
More recently DAL only increased to 76 seats with a BK 1113 motion - which most Pilots were very upset with. Currently most DAL Pilots are aware of the importance of Scope and while we will probably never get back 50 and 70 seat flying I doubt we are foolish enough to give one more inch on Scope. Some guys think we can bring back the 76 seat flying to mainline - I am not sure about this it would be nice.
Scoop
You CAN bring the 76 flying back to mainline. Simply don't vote yes on any contract that doesn't include it. Personally, I will vote NO on any contract that doesn't bring 70 seaters back to mainline, or see them all parked. I'm confident the majority of my colleagues feel the same.
As a point of interest, back in the 90's when we voted to allow the 50 seaters to go to the regionals, it wasn't as simplistic as just "not wanting to be bothered" with small jets. I remember the meeting well. Our (moron) Master Chairman at the time presented us with the following: We could either order a bunch of 777's for expansion, or a bunch of 50 seaters, but we wouldn't get both. The money simply wasn't there. Well, we chose the 777's. How many 777's did we order since that meeting? 0. We were totally scammed. Hindsight being 20/20, we made a bad choice.