The title of this thread is Stop the Whipsaw!

So rather than various regional carriers underbidding each other in a race to the bottom, it makes more sense to me that the flying should move to mainline carriers; where it has historically been.

Delta is taking delivery of 88 717's to, in large part, take back some of the flying that was given to regional carriers. Those 717's represent roughly 1,000 mainline pilot jobs. As a point of historical fact in 1991 Delta operated 30 DC-9-30's and 59 737-200's; 89 aircraft!

Look at the relative pay scales between your regional carrier and Delta. Third year Delta pay on the lowest paying equipment is $107 an hour. And that will rise to $113.00 on 1/1/15.

That's more than many (if not most) regional carrier captains make at the top of their scale, but the real difference is the Delta rate continues to rise with years of service, and upgrade to other equipment / captain.

jethikoki, "...the same equal and fair treatment that pilots have at the majors" you spoke of would mean getting furloughed as flying is transferred to other carriers. A fair number of the pilots I fly with were furloughed in the post 9/11 world, and not one has told me he (or she) was welcomed with open arms at any regional.

If you want a job at a mainline carrier, I think that's great and I wish you well, sincerely.

FSP, RJ's in huge numbers were ordered back in the late 1990's. Oil was under $20 a barrel. (Hard to believe, isn't it?) Fred Reid, Delta's infamous then COO, called the RJ's "self-financing". Today oil is $108 a barrel and those "self-financing" RJ's are money-sucking losers. While you may think your pay rate is subsidizing mine, I would argue the existence of your job is being subsidized by mainline as your aircraft is under a long term fee for departure contract.

If the 50 seat RJ were making money, Delta wouldn't be parking them as fast as they can.