Originally Posted by Horhay

DMC - what is your background and experience? Are you CAL or UAL? For background, I've got 4 years with U on the Guppy, 3 in the Bus, and 15 months with CAL on the turbo-Guppy(NG). From your post, you imply (per the "jumpseated on both...") that you've not actively flown at either airline, is that the case? While I appreciate your jumpseating observations, it's a far different experience than spending 3-4 days working with a pilot directly. If you are/were a CAL or UAL crew, I apologize for the omission.

Agreed-both companies have their toads, some of whom are deleriously poor pilots, many of whom are incapable (or prevented by management) of EVER upgrading; I can assure you that the level of competence, standardization, and professionalism is FAR higher at U than C. Granted, it's only a small snap-shot of one equipment type at one base...I do though believe this holds true in the bigger scheme as well.

The "merger of equals" tripe was simply a weak attempt by management to set the employee's expectations to avoid divisiveness commonly found in integrating disparate working groups. Reference Jeff's often-used, and completely meaningless use of the "co-worker" term. MBA-101 attempt to bring oneself to the "level" of the laboror (read labor groups) so as to engender team cohesion and inspire desired behavior for the sake of bolstering productivity metrics.

UAL purchased CAL with cash to avert a merger approval vote and avoid the failed result of the US air debacle in 2000.

Cheers,
Horhay