An excellent article by someone who really did his homework. "Scope liberalization to wrest gain for mainline pilots." He also pointed out that regional pilot pay was sacrificed to cross subsidize mainline pilot pay and benefits. A classic example is UAL. Before bankruptcy, I knew one UAL B747 CA who was making over $330,000 a year flying maybe one trip every other month. During the same time period, a regional pilot first year pay was less than $17/hr.

Current structure as it exists is unhealthy and has produced an unintended consequences for mainline pilots. I believe only way we can regain some semblance of honor and respect in this industry is to stop giving up scope and negotiate with the management for pilot integration for all branded flying. With the gap between the regional flying cost and that of mainline flying narrowing, mainline carriers needs to carve out a different path for domestic flying, and it would be in the best interest of current pilots to negotiate for total integration of branded flying under one list. A good example is Lufthansa. All Lufthansa pilots are under one seniority list regardless of whether you fly a CRJ900 or a B777.