Originally Posted by
alfaromeo
To me, this whole argument comes down to first officers who are not happy being first officers, they want to be captains. Understandable.
Some think the answer to this is scope. Have better scope and all those mainline jobs will come back. Nope. You can maybe get the RJ pilots to change uniforms and now are mainline pilots, but you won't get what you really want, which is hundreds of more big mainline airplanes (like 737's) to come back so you can make captain at 5 years. The only way to do that is to get Congress to pass a law to make RJ's illegal in the US. Lacking that, then you have to learn to live with these smaller jets.
The question then goes to who flies them. The first officers who are itchy for that fourth stripe probably don't want to be RJ captains because that would be a pay cut. They really don't want to be RJ first officers, for many they have already been there done that.
If you think that you can do this by being "tough" or "radical" or "hard line" then dream on. That is a bunch of self delusion by frustrated pilots that imagine themselves as the sun drenched gun fighter going off to slay management. Go read the Railway Labor Act and then come back and give me your "radical" theories. Who are the highest paid pilots now? Southwest, right? What a bunch of radicals. SWAPA does not even have a Strike Committee. Seems their measured, thinking approach has served their pilots pretty well.
Good luck with your hard lines and LEC resolutions. How about go develop a business plan for recapturing this flying and you will be much more successful. I know that will be a lot of work, might as well be you that does it.
I'm going to have to say your intent was very much to nail someone and not to be a productive part of the conversation.
I think its clear with the resolutions that are being passed around that there is a plan and its coming together and I think you'll start seeing it all over the place shortly. The point is to go right up to DALPA and force the issue because as Bar said, Delta runs the airline, DALPA represents us, we want this issue discussed and not brushed aside by folks who missed the 50 seat RJ revolution over a decade ago and will miss this one as well if not pushed.
And as a side note, yes CAL does not have a 100 seat aircraft on order but they have a whole bunch of 114 seat 735s they got stuck with during their low times and they really hate them. Horrific CASMs. Turns out taking a 733 to a 735 is a real bad idea. In fact, buying any 100 seat version of a 150 seat plane is a bad idea and probably why DAL and NWA independent of each other turned to 76 seaters instead of to either Boeing or Airbus when it came to a small aircraft fleet. Neither Boeing or Airbus are coming out with a small jet, they still don't think anyone is going to order it, same thing they said a decade or more ago and now I think there have been 2000 or 2500 RJs built in less than 10 years. Thats the trend, thankfully junior folks who were the replacement jet pilots, or FLAPS as some call, us get it.