Originally Posted by
TallFlyer
You’re making very good and valid points, and honestly I don’t think you’re wrong.
I’m just highlighting that what pilots are ultimately after is accruing seniority on a list they want to be on, and all of the other retention efforts thus far have fallen short.
Would the APA BOD or ALPA MECs at DAL or UAL ever vote in changes that would support such changes? Ultimately they’re going to want to know what’s in it for them, and everything has a price.
Regional pilots have let it be known by their actions that their price is seniority. Legacy management is going to have to figure out how to meet that price while a pilot is operating a CRJ / 175.
Having spoken with several friends with experience from less than a year up to about 25 years at legacies none of them care who gets seniority behind them. It doesn’t change anything for them. So yes, I could see a pilot group allowing a regional pilot accrue seniority at a legacy.
Justification for it could be made that the regional pilots are making money for the legacy and do represent them. No one, except a very very small group of people, know what regional they’re flying on. They just know they bought a, insert airline here, ticket and are on a smaller plane.
People care about seniority, it’s what keeps them at their current carrier more often than not. We all know this. We all know people who don’t want to move on from a regional because they’re comfortable where they are due to their seniority. I’m sure you would have some people staying longer at a regional and waiting to move up until they can hold a line as an FO in a base they want. It doesn’t cost the company anything, unless they tag longevity to it, which I really don’t see that happening. Could be wrong.