Originally Posted by
Sniper
NoStep,
Don't you think it's difficult for ALPA at, say a Delta, to negotiate industry leading CBA's with the same management team, when wholly owned carriers like ComAir and Mesaba undercuts them? It's kinda' hard for the line pilot to, "support their fellow pilots" when he/she sees their aircraft parked and another Delta owned carrier occupying most of their gates.
Mesa is not the problem. The artificially lowered expectations of 'regional' pilots is.
Touche', "Sniper" ...and yes, I understand my statement was myopic in scope. Mea culpa...(when was the last time you so someone admit they're wrong at APC?)
An ideal situation would be a newhire f/o flies regional aircraft and has a number with the major from day 1. (I believe Pan Am did that...newhires flew Avro's or metro's (?-not sure) before moving up to sit sideways on the 727/707) I truly wish that were still the case.
The days of flying small turbo-props for low pay for a few years, building time to get to the majors went away with the advent of the regional jet.
The next best thing would be to bring up the standards at the regionals, bringing up QOL to just below the majors. That really is what I was getting at, especially since the regionals are becoming the last stop for more pilots.