Originally Posted by
johnso29
It's apples to oranges though. They're not even remotely comparable. Management likely has a better chance of going from 76 to 82 seats than the pilots are at grabbing full recapture in one contract. So I don't think it's irrelevant at all. To state that not allowing it in the TA isn't a win is wrong. Especially when UsAir pilots allows 86 seats in the RJs in UsAir Express colors.
Check your comparison-
The 86 seaters were grandfathered in from AWA, just like the higher gross weight Compass E175s and higher amount of 76 seaters allowed were grandfathered in in the NW/DL merger. That amount has not increased over at US despite having the basement mainline contract, while the amount of E190s operated by mainline pilots has.
Besides, we know that the company asked for 82 seaters and contract continuation as an opener, but we don't have a clue what ALPA asked for as an opener other than "improvements." That's where a lot of the consternation comes from.