yeah, we're really "lovin' it". where do you get that? other than slaphappy (and i swear i don't even know if he works for us or not...maybe there's just an open internet connection at a mental hospital somewhere), no one is sitting around excited by any misfortune that may come to some other pilot group.

the thing that irritates me is the feeling of entitlement that everyone seems to have to "their flying". and i'm talking everyone, at all the regionals. the world of business is a tough world, and the airline world is even tougher than that. the toughest survive (businesses, not pilots...we don't need arm wrestling matches here), and others don't last. the ones on top now might not be on top in the future, that's just the way it works.

having been specifically and purposefully screwed over by every single individual who went to work at gojets, when i was at trans states, i know when it's a personal decision to go against what is truly right. other than something like that, when the companies that we all work for make business decisions, good or bad, and then those decisions have consequences for us as employees, we have to live with it, good or bad. if (and this is just an "if", as i am in no way claiming any knowledge about the past) expressjet's management has made mistakes or not been tough enough in this business climate, and the company ends up getting bought by someone else, that is not the fault of the pilots working for the company that buys them, any more than it is the fault of the expressjet pilots.

and that being said, any company that gains or loses flying to another company is just winning or losing at business. it has nothing to do with the pilot groups purposefully screwing each other over. no one came to use and said, "skywest pilots, check this box if you want to be personally responsible for hundreds of pilots from another company losing their jobs". and no, the union vote wasn't that at all, so don't even start with that. the most irritating thing i've seen on this board recently has been a couple of people saying that it's skywest's pilot's fault for not voting in a union that expressjet pilots might be in bad shape if their company gets bought out. that is complete nonsense. if expressjet gets bought, that's the fault of expressjet management, no one else.

finally, i personally have not spoken to anyone at skywest that wants to buy expressjet anyway. skywest management thinks it's a good idea, and it must make good business sense strategically or they wouldn't be trying to do it, but none of us want to be a part of it. you pilots are lucky to have a say in the way things go down, due to the language in your contract that can kill the whole deal, so you are certainly responsible for your own fate. however, if we don't buy expressjet, after reading the current financial situation of expressjet, i am certainly worried about expressjet's future. i have several friends there and don't want to see them out of work in this tough climate. but then again, i don't want to be out of work either. again, the toughest businesses survive, and we'd all be lying if any of us (anyone from any airline) said that we didn't want ours to survive.