Originally Posted by
N2rotation
I know that CAL wanted the Q400. They wanted to give it to cheap bottom feeding pilots too, and so you won.
Some people may say I have a bad attitude. I really don't. I just want people to realize that they are not helping our profession by working for Colgan/Mesa/Go Jet/etc.
We are expected to act like professionals, to work like professionals, yet we are not paid like professionals because there is always someone willing to do our job for less. We've gotta stop this.
When I started back at Colgan in 2004, we had just got the contract to fly the Saabs down in IAH for Continental. Expressjet guys, and others, were calling us bottom-feeders back then too. I do think you are a little out-of-line calling Colgan the same as a Mesa or Go Jet. Colgan was not created as an Alter-Ego carrier, Colgan was purchased and expanded into a viable market.
I do agree with your point about the Q400 though, when I was there I never bid to fly the Q400 because I could not personally justify flying a 74-seat aircraft for less than 50-seat RJ pay. I never had any issues with people who flew the Q400, I just personally didn't agree. I would have liked to have seen alot more people turn down a Q400 slot.
My point is there are a lot of good people/pilots who work at Colgan, it really isn't fair to dump on the entire company and all those who work there just because they took over some of your routes.