Originally Posted by JonnyKnoxville

The pilots of Pinnacle have one advantage. You have the Delta play book that has already been written and used on Comair. Please listen to my fellow former Comair pilots on here. They have all written excellent advice.

It does not matter why or how you ended up in this mess. The bottom line is that your jobs have been replaced. I, myself, have gone through each of the emotions that have been represented on this thread.

Blaming loose scope, management, Delta, cheap competitors, etc. It does not matter. Identify your blame and rationalization for what it is...denial. Then focus on getting the best job you can with the skills you have.

Most of the pilots at Comair who used their time wisely were able to land on their feet pretty well. The ones that were in denial until the last day of work are still unemployed. Good luck, full pay until the last day, and F.U. Delta Management, I will never forget!

Originally Posted by gojo

I agree with you, it wasn't Colgan. In fact, it wasn't any pilot's fault in any of the three airlines. Phil was trying to make Pinnacle less dependant on Northwest, and now Delta. And He and Starky made some bad business decisions. I feel the blame extends beyond Pinnacle management. For example: why did Delta sell Pinnacle Mesaba when Colgan and the Pinnacle 900's were loosing money? Especially since the 200's and Saabs had targets on them. We will never know all the metrics involved, but all of this whichever way it goes now will benifit Delta. Either they get to park all their 200's from one carrier, or they get to set a new low for future whipsawing who's left. It will be a win win regardles. Lets face it, they are shrewder at Delta than Phil and the gang, and they always get what they want. Has anyone ever wondered why het got such a huge severence?

Originally Posted by 9easy

The worst mistake was 9E buying mesaba. United was willing to pay more for the 9L flying during negotiations but DL said no as a condition of DIP financing. Delta hates senior regional pilots, and they were desperate to offload XJ. If Phil could have a do-over, Delta should have quickly liquidated XJ and transferred the airframes to Pinnacle. Instead, Pinnacle will liquidate and offload airframes to someone else.

Originally Posted by FlyJSH

The worst mistake Pinnacle Corp made was negotiating a contract with turboprops losing money ("Yes, we lose $100 per leg, but we make it up in volume").

With our current contract, we make what, maybe $2 per hour more than the average DCI contract? Pilots and unions are not the problem: boneheads with MBAs ARE the problem.

Originally Posted by Mesabah

Delta was going to pay for the merger between XJ and 9E. When we added Colgan to the mix Delta backed out of the deal. Delta made the right move there, we broke our end of the bargain.

Originally Posted by Avroman

The problem is the mainlines aren't growing, they have been shrinking for over 10 years. Any grounds made with retirements of pilots has been cancelled out with retirements of airplanes. This trend appears not to be ending either.

So for your example, the 2 Chineese sweatshops were closed, and replaced with 1 shiny new factory in India. Big whoop.