Originally Posted by
Ominous
Comair pilots got burned by the 'real airliner' carrot (read: SJS). you want unity against 'evil DAL', yet the Comair pilots were all quite ok straying from unity to get shiny new (or newish) jets.
Lesson 1: never take concessions for growth. Business simply doesn't work that way.
Lesson 2: don't throw a pilot group, or groups, under a bus and then expect unity from them when your chips are down.
I digress, as my original point was, and still is, that it is ironic to hear Comair pilots on here complaining about other regionals taking 'their' airplanes. But hey, good luck to you all. I mean that.
The E-170s were unawarded at the time. But you're right, it was a mistake to vote for the TA. DAL had no intention of ever giving us those jets, and it taught me a valuable lesson. That was the first and only TA I ever voted in favor of. But again, those airplanes represented unassigned flying - it was only after the fact that DAL chose to take a handful of airplanes slated for ASA when they sent the E-170s elsewhere. Comair has lost dozens and dozens of aircraft in the same manner, but I've never held it against the crews that took them. The focus has and should always be on DAL management. They pull all the strings.
As for taking concessions, no, it didn't work. Neither did maintaining the status quo. We've lost a lot more airplanes by holding the line than we ever did by taking a pay freeze. Doesn't matter what you do - DAL will give the airplanes to the cheapest lift provider they can, so long as no one regional has too much leverage.
Just out of curiosity - let's say we'd voted down the TA and ASA signed a contract worth Comair + 5%. How many airplanes do you think they'd have right about now?