Originally Posted by OnCenterline

There was no "grab." In fact, the DAL MEC was not all that interested in merger talks.



This is a much more accurate summation. Yes, a few of the most senior guys wanted DOH, but of that small number, even fewer actually thought it was possible. The other 99+% knew that the combined ASA/CMR list (the merger of that particular list had been agreed upon a few years prior in anticipation of something like this) would be arbitrated, and likely wind up as a staple of some sort.

Make no mistake: ALPA did NOT want a merger of any regional list into mainline. They fought the very concept kicking and screaming, and this was the genesis of the RJDC, which is still something that most pilots--and almost all Delta pilots--don't understand. This was a DFR issue, plain and simple, and ALPA got very creative in their arguments against it.

Just for the record, it happened to be Comair and ASA because they were the first large RJ operators to be purchased by a company with the same union on property. Had it been USAir buying Mesa or United buying ACA, chances are it would have all played out the same way.

Had this issue been properly addressed in the early 2000's, the landscape would be drastically different: pay across the board would be higher, RJ's would still exist, but mainline pilots would be flying them, there would have been a faster reduction of the 50 seat fleet, and there would be far more E-170/190 variants flying.