Originally Posted by
eaglefly
Yes. Again, either our contract is equal to Delta's (true parity) or it's substandard. This includes ALL sections. Horton BLEW his opportunity to make a good first impression and that toppled his fiefdom. Now, Parker has still yet to finish writing his first impression, so this issue will define the future "new" American Airlines.
If Parker refuses to match Delta and/or takes advantage of arbitration he'll win, but at what cost ?
All that will ensure is an angry, distrustful and uncooperative group of 15,000 pilots that make the airline run and anchor the product produced by others. If we end up going down that same old well worn road of past failure, Parker will simply be telling Wall Street and the world that the "new" American Airlines will still essentially be the "old" American Airlines and that Airline was not a leader. It would be a VERY bad foundation with which to build what he supposedly wants to build. Even if circumstances change things for the better for the pilots down the road, trust and cooperation will remain casualties of playing a hand that has always lost in the past and the New AA will likely never reach its true potential.
I don't see how even more money will make people suddenly "wake up" and start flying managed speeds vs. 0.81 everywhere, or single engine taxiing, or even something as simple as turning the seat belt sign off on a 6 hour flight for a change. I will say however, outside of their hatred of Parker & CO, they are absolutely the best guys one could ask to fly with, and the hate is limited toward the company not fellow employees.
A huge majority of guys at Airways-East have so much hate for their jobs and careers giving them DAL +infinity% wouldn't make them "raise the anchor" IMO.
It sucks, but that is the reality that I see. The phrase "cutting your nose off to spite your face" comes to mind.
I think we need to acknowledge that Parker seems to have a passion for his gig. He said somewhere on a crews news this was his "dream" - to run the largest airline in the world. I know it sounds corny, but it's rare that an airline CEO would care this much for enthusiasm for running a, well, airline. Most tend to not give a crap except about the money.
Pilots are greedy, and this thread is a
great example of that. Granted, I'm a relatively new hire, and I want to be paid fairly, but don't want to strangle the golden goose here. Look at Spirit, Frontier, SWA, all rapidly expanding and taking market share. SWA now has a huge operation at LAX, they have a large operation in PHL, they own BWI which at one point was a
hub for USAir, they are moving in and now going to S. America (which, while is a large AA operation, has a crumbling economy and we are losing money on it and service is being cut) not even mentioning the DAL Wright Amendment going away having a very real effect on us in our major hub, DFW. Spirit is doubling the fleet size they have today, which is double what they had 4 years ago. Frontier has changed tactics and is now becoming an ULCC.
What I'm trying to say is, whether we get large additional raises or not, sticking your fingers in your ears and saying FUPM to the company will most likely result in pilot jobs lost and downsizing of market share and profits, all bad things long term for those of us with 30+ years left here and those with only 10 years left as well. It's in our benefit to do what we can to make the company as profitable as it can be, regardless of current rates or DAL +infinity.