Originally Posted by
dosbo
I thought mainline already took a huge paycut.
In order for mainline to recapture outsourced flying, RJ pilots must start demanding better pay and contracts so their flying becomes too expensive and it's better for mainline to do it in house. This benefits regional pilots by rasing their current rates and eventually opening up more mainline jobs.
Unfortunately it means a pilot group must be willing to take a contract negotiation to a strike and possibly shutdown their regional airline.
Comair tried this in 2001.
In response, Delta brought in ACA, Chautauqua, Eagle, ExpressJet, Big Sky, Shuttle America, Freedom, and Pinnacle to make sure it won't happen again.
Since their pay was lower, many of them were awarded Comair aircraft out of the deal, too.
Then in Ch11 Delta had Comair pay and workrules brought back down to "Industry Average". And Comair continues to shrink.
Long story short - that's been attempted, nearly destroyed the airline, and other regionals were quick and eager to backfill.
To add insult to injury, most of the "Mentoring" I've gotten from mainline pilots sounds something like this...
"You seem like a smart guy. But if you ever want a job at Delta, you've got to get away from Comair. Go to Pinnacle or Mesa or someplace where you can upgrade fast. The pay will suck but you've gotta ask yourself, are you and your family willing to pay the price to get to mainline? Cause if you're not, then you might as well stay at Comair."
-Actual conversation with a Delta Captain and training instructor who "works closely with the hiring department".