Originally Posted by
newKnow
I agree. I'm not fully informed on the whole situation, but it seems as though this will probably boil down to them trying to get rid of the flow and saying they will comply with the agreement (by pulling out seats in a bunch of 70+ seaters). Or, them finding or creating an alternate flow program (maybe).
The first option leaves us without a flow. I don't even know how they can do the second.
I think if we were smart, we would "volunteer" to fly those 70 seaters (Maybe by giving a significant amount of Compass and Mesaba pilots seniority numbers) instead of trying to insist they park them all. Because, you are right, they are not going to park those airplanes.
Heyas NewK,
I think people underestimate the value of the flowdown as furlough prevention.
You're not only paying to train a DAL guy to fly a E175. You force a fully trained captain back to FO, and a fully trained FO out onto the street, wasting 2 full training events in addition to the one you use to get qualified.
Now multiply that by 20 a month.
Now work it in reverse when training starts back up.
You are causing a MAJOR logistical nightmare and training dollar sinkhole for the company..
And that's why it was so effective. A real financial incentive NOT to do it with real dollars attached to it.
Far more incentive than having to poke your on-staff labor attorney and telling him "we're going to furlough...come up with some force majure excuse and make it stick".
If I were a contract operator, no way...NO WAY would I want to be involved with a flow. It's a ticket to bankruptcy, and we've already seen what happened to Mesa.
Nu