Gloopy,

Good post.

Technology and the capabilities of Delta's current management team make Delta almost uniquely able to create a virtual airline within an airline, IF they choose to do so. There is nothing in our contract which would prevent everything being "virtual Delta" but the pilots. Effectively the Pinnacle pilots already have a contract within our contract.

You are right that has been tried before. Part of my musing have been based on Delta / Pinnacle management's dream sheet. If executed, then Pinnacle would meet the triggers for a Single Carrier petition. Should that happen, then it is something we should consider.

Certainly this is poor political soil and I've plowed it before with ASA & Comair. I supported the PID requesting ALPA to employ it's merger policy which earned me the enmity of many Delta pilots. At the same time I advocated clearly communicating the common sense solution of a staple and refraining from hiring Mike Haber to sue ALPA when things went sideways. Of course that made the hardliners at the regionals angry. So I'm for unity. When I preach unity it seems both sides unify against me

I do not fully understand why we divested our regionals only to start investing in them again. Probably just to reset in a fashion not unlike what happened in the mainline bankruptcies. From a labor perspective we should be fighting the creative destruction process ... and I think you and I see that the same way.

What will happen? Probably nothing. Pinnacle, like GoJets, will be administered to remain just outside the Single Transporation System triggers. Further, the Pinnacle contract basically ceases when any pilot tries to renegotiate it, as we would have to do to recover scope. Without digging too deep, those provisions (could / would) blow up the entire deal.