Originally Posted by
gomper
Thanks, but I’m not really new here. I used to post a lot years ago when I was at eagle. I’ve been lurking for a while but didn’t know my login anymore so I didn’t post. Just decided to make a new one finally. I have lots of thoughts but just shared the ones that seemed relevant to the thread. Day to day life at AA has noticeably changed since Covid, in my opinion. I know it is cliche to say it is like a big regional or a credit card company that uses planes to trap its customers. But there are reasons those cliches exist and persist. I feel strongly enough about it too post what I posted. It is only my opinion, I’m sure not all agree with me. But if I were a pilot applying to both AA and DAL I would want them to know what I and others think about AA. Delta management knows what they’re doing with this offer, and they know how much lower AA was trying to give us. Why didn’t they just offer AA plus a little bit? Why did they triple the value? They know AA can’t afford to pay down debt fast enough and offer a similarly valued deal. AA knows this too, which is why they are hemming and hawing about paying up now. They also know we don’t have the pilot unity to stand up to them. I just can’t see us getting a deal with nearly the same value as Delta’s, ever. Add in the profit sharing and in my opinion, a new hire will make substantially more money over the course of their career at Delta.
Everything you said has been said here before countless times.
You have valid concerns. AA’s management team is pretty much incompetent, although Southwest’s appears worse right now. Didn’t think that would be possible. Delta has the best management team by far, but that doesn’t mean they love their pilot group. They just recognize that they can make more money by cooperating than by fighting the pilots, aka Parker/Isom/etc. AA would be a much better place with competent management. Will that ever happen?
I tend to think the “giant regional” complaint is a bit of a stretch. I’ve never flown more than 3 legs a day; and have done so maybe twice in the past 4-5 years. I don’t know of any regionals that fly to LHR, CDG, Tokyo, SYD, etc.
If you’re that unhappy at AA, you should definitely apply elsewhere. What keeps you at AA? For me, it’s living in a domicile, being able to drive to work, and making a ton of money picking up easy turns and broken up 1-1s. I’ll likely switch to WB FO soon and my game will change to sitting reserve from home. I’ve considered leaving, but the seniority cut and commuting make very little sense.