Here is where sailingfun and I can partially agree. The fact is, it would be very expensive to bring the RJ flying in house. Three problems with it.

1. It is expensive to the company, and thus costs the union a lot of negotiating capital which comes out of the more senior mainline pilots and probably results in a NO vote at the mainline.

2. As was shown in RJDC lawsuit depositions with USAirways MEC members, the mainline gets a "bargaining credit" for helping management with keeping regional feed costs low. The less the company has to pay for this regional feed, the more the mainline MEC gets to negotiate for in the total size of the pie....

3. If the mainline pays a lot for the RJ feed, guess what happens next? There is no longer a limit on the number of 90 seaters that the company can use, and they are very cheap now. Most domestic flying now goes to this cheap 90 seat flying and the only high paid jobs are the wide body jobs for international and certain trans cons. Over all, it is a net loss for the mainline group.

I doubt Sailingfun will acknowledge any of this, but this is the main reason mainline/ALPA national doesn't really push for it.

There is one other reason that doesn't involve economics....There is a very prevalent belief within DALPA/ALPA/Mainline groups that regional pilots aren't as good. That second class status combined with the above economics guarantee that ALPA will never change the current system.