Originally Posted by
ShyGuy
Yes that, along with the first big vacancy alignment after the ISL where pretty much everyone could bid and get whatever their seniority could hold. Colgan Saab to CRJ at Pinnacle? No problem. Mesaba Saab to CRJ Captain? Come on over. 38% of the entire pilot group received a different base/seat/aircraft. What a total disaster! 9E hadn't even completed its operational merger, and there were still a fenced and an unfenced side. The concessionary contract has a stipulation that next time if there is a merger, ain't no one bidding across a certificate until the fenced merger operation is all complete. That's what it SHOULD have been in the first place between Mesaba/Pinnacle/Colgan. But no, Mesaba Saab pilots had to find new seats ASAP. Oh well, ALPA and the JCBA reaped what it sowed.
As much as it pains me to agree with Shy, the vacancy alignment was a cluster of galactic proportions. There's not an airline in the entire universe that could have handled that magnitude of operational disruption smoothly, and with 9E management the implosion was all but guaranteed.
Granted, there are a million other reasons why 9E collapsed but that vacancy and the way it was handled was a disaster of biblical proportions that pushed an already horrifically mismanaged airline over the cliff.