Originally Posted by
UGBSM
Well, since you asked...
I wasn't. Back when it mattered to me. In 1991.
If Delta wants to buy RJ's, or any aircraft at all, that's their prerogative. Always has been. Delta can interview and hire Delta pilots and we'll fly 'em. Delta did not do that.
NOW, years later, you're talking about merging many other airline's pilots that Delta did not interview and hire and negotiating SLI's and all the chaos that comes with that, keeping in mind that a staple is in no way a given. Then dealing with the inevitable DFR lawsuits. Now the pilot voting membership is suddenly way more junior on average, and guess what kind of a contract they'll want? Not necessarily the same objectives our current seniority list wants.
So... no thanks.
And spare me the pie in the sky "solutions" that have about as much merit as a national seniority list. Please try to understand my point of view. Age and seniority do play a part in how each person views these kinds of things.
I'd really like to see this line of thinking go away. Granted, there are plenty of tools out there flying RJ's, but the vast majority of guys are just like you and I. They are already flying Delta pax. They are already flying your family when you go on vacation pretty much anywhere. They are already flying internationally, overwater and in big jets that passengers think are mainline jets.
I respect that you are looking out for your own interests, but if a solution to this came along, that happened far below you on the seniority list, would you really oppose it?
Edit: Btw, there are about 5,000ish pilots on the seniority list that
Delta didn't interview and hire. In my experience most pilots are more the same than they are different. I don't think you have anything to fear by a "non-Delta hired invasion." I'm willing to bet about 99% of them would be tickled pink to be here.