Originally Posted by Eric Stratton

Do you think Alaska pilots should feel they have a "right" to fly wide bodys in merger?


Yes I do. Not immediately, but if DAL guys bid into SEA, and LAX on their equipment then Alaska guys should be able to bid into our positions also. Keep in mind with a category and class type of SLI - DAL guys will be weighted toward the top of the list. Once merged they would be "Delta" pilots and should be able to fly whatever their seniority can hold.


And what does 911 have anything to do with a merger?

I was referring to the post 9-11 instability in the airline career - not the actual 9-11 event. It has to do with career expectations. Is a stable 30 year career realistic in the post 9-11 airline world? Career expectations are constantly changing and thus do not make good criteria, when looked at alone, for merging two pilot groups. 10 years ago DAL guys had to start out on the panel - that was a career expectation then - not now. DAL had 10+ percent of its pilot list on furlough in 2004 - is a furlough in anyones career expectation?

A few years ago guys were hired directly into widebody FO that some can not hold today. So was their career expectation taken at that exact point in time. Can they realistically say they expected to never fly a narrow-body? We can not extrapolate a snapshot of today into a 30 year look ahead - it will not work.

Look, I don't want to lose seniority to an Alaska guy any more then you do, that is why I think we are better off arguing category and class vice "career expectations."

Go and ask a southwest pilot if he ever expects to fly a wide body. How about airtran, jetblue.... well you get the point.