For many years UAL had 7 equipment ranks, each one paid different amounts. This was the order from highest to lowest paying.

747-400
DC-10
777
767-757
A320/319
727
737-300 <--Guppy

Since the 737 was the smallest paying aircraft, (two payscales below the Airbus) we called it the Guppy. Not sure if other airlines did the same.

Its just a name that carried on.

I can see why they didn't call it that at CAL. Its the primary aircraft at that airline, with 275 of them, more pilots fly that aircraft than the other fleets combined.

From the UAL perspective historically, that's the entry level aircraft at United for both FOs and Captains. At CAL, some pilots are going to be on it for their entire career, so they probably have a different perspective.

Its not an insult. Its just what L-UAL pilots call it. FWIW we call the Airbus the "the bus" the 747 "the 400" the 756 the "fifty seven" or the "sixty seven" and the 777 "the triple seven".

We call the 737 "the guppy". When we had the 737-200 we called it the "thunder guppy" and the shuttle was "shuttle guppy".

YES, some pilots call it the 737 or the "thirty seven".

Its like calling an aircraft carrier "the boat". When its actually a ship or an aircraft carrier. Its just a name.

What we find funny is that some CAL pilots get VERY UPSET when we call it that and make a big deal about it. Its become as much a joke on the LUAL side as our CEO referring to himself as "Co-worker Jeff" has become.

Actually if people stopped making a big deal, the LUAL pilots would probably start calling it the 737 "thirty seven" or whatever.

Maybe the arbitrators will add to their decision what the 737 Guppy should be referred to as?