Originally Posted by tailwheel48

Seems like lots of history rewrites going on around here. Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story.

Here's my recollection of events:

1. Delta was the first post bankruptcy, post merger contract. Delta banded their 777 and 747 payrates. First precedent.

2. United, somewhere during their bankruptcy, banded their 747 and 777 payrates. Second precedent.

3. Continental banded the 767-400 (and - 200) and 777 very early on, when the 767's were introduced to the fleet. This was done as part of a non-bankruptcy contract. The subset of pilots who flew the 767's were very senior and could easily have held 777 but chose to fly the 767 because it had some pretty attractive flying. Third precedent.

4. When the merger happened the W2's had to be considered as part of the career expectations game and many CAL 767 pilots out-earned their UAL WB counterparts in the years leading up to the merger. Obviously the CAL merger committee would do what they could to protect these pilots, hence the pay-banding. It wasn't some sort of Seniority Integration maneuver, as has been alleged but simple precedent - those pilots had been making WB pay for years.

5. Attempting to establish a better payrate for the 747 pilots was a fools errand. Delta was paying 747 pilots the same as 777 pilots, and the negotiating committee decided, rightly I believe, not to squander negotiating capital on pursuing an unrealistic objective for a fleet that was going away anyway.

6. Fast forward to the current time and United has one payrate for 777, 787 and 767-400 pilots. Delta has two, one for 777, 747 and 350, and another for 767-400, A330 and 787. Interestingly enough, this second WB payrate lags United's by about $20/hour.

So, bottom line, United has equivalent rates for the 777, but higher rates than Delta for the 787 and 767-400.

In my view this illustrates that our negotiating committee did a great thing by banding the rates. We have more pilots on more fleets making higher rates than Delta. Delta never took delivery of the 787 and United has no 330's though if we did, they'd be paid at our higher rate!

I find it incredulous that a United pilot would complain about the 767-400 rates when they're $20 higher than Delta. Perhaps I could understand a Delta pilot complaining about it!

And, like other posters have noted, it's time to look forward instead of back. I hope more United pilots will be at the highest rates, not less!