Angle Lake has a history of stagnating to profitability, not growing, at the close of the merger in ‘16 the combined entity comprised of 219 mainline tails, at the close of ’23 AS had 232 mainline tails (the "growth" was always lauded in terms of passenger seats as they traded 900s for 319/320s etc). I'm hired post VA merger, but the merger dramatically effected (affected?) my career progression 7-8 years later in 2023 as the final busses were retired in one last big push in ’23 and the subsequent displacement bid which they also used to realign base manning significantly. I stayed put at Alaska for very specific reasons. That has turned out to be the biggest mistake of my career (to date) as my progression has not come close to my peers at Delta, United, or even Spirit. Now I am (we are) staring down the barrel of more mass stagnation as AS digests yet another merger. A quick convo with some boomer age pilots will tell you that, in general, mergers are bad for pilots (maybe not DL/NWA?). If you are jr. at either company and a palatable opportunity presents itself I highly highly highly recommend giving it serious thought.


There is an official narrative that AS management sticks to religiously. They concoct these narratives only to serve their immediate needs I.E. getting this merger past the DOJ. We have had beloved CP fired because they refused to adhere to the narrative and lie to pilots faces. Once the narrative achieves its purpose it becomes fungible, often at the expenses of pilots QOL…..the prevailing narratives of the VA merger were……

- We have no plans on closing JFK

- We have not made a final decision on the fleet makeup moving forward

These narratives served a purpose to prevent mass cross bidding and training events associated. Neither proved to be true and many many pilots made decisions that were not in their best interest because they choose to believe these narratives at face value.

Narratives I hear now that I believe are questionable….

- Two brands one airline

- 321’s are likely to stay cause of “better lease terms”

- Amazon freight…. “we’re interested”

- 717s will stay through their hull life

- A330’s + 787s as part of the final fleet makeup

Maybe they are true, maybe not, I have my own opinions and have no connections or inside info. Just experience at this airline.

I’m not trying to be a fear monger but a realist in hopes that people make decisions that best serve their careers if they have options. Take everything they say with a grain of salt and try to look at what serves Angle Lakes interests as the most likely outcome, try to talk to former VA folks about the VA merger because they have very relevant experience. I guess my point is to be very skeptical. These people are ruthless accountants. The upside is they are good at making money. The downside is they don’t care about pilots.

$0.02