Originally Posted by
ebl14
I think you are confused about the term "career expectations" when applied to a merger. The term refers to what is likely to happen to an employee group if they had continued on alone or status quo. In this case, Colgan would have never had the cash to buy Q400s and double the size of thier operation. Pre-purchase a Colgan first officer would have to wait for Captains to leave to greener partures before they would get a chance at moving up and getting an upgrade, the same goes for Pinnacle. At Mesaba, Delta was already parking the Saabs and Mesaba was preparing for another round of massive furloughs. Had is not been for the purchase and merger with Colgan the expectation for a Mesaba pilot was furlough for the bottom 40-50%, downgrade for the 25-50% pilots and decreased QOL for the top 25%.
Let's not forget the 120 most undesirable airframes in the world that Pinnacle brings, everyone knows those are going away as soon as they can get rid of them. Not to mention performance numbers allowing the parent airline legally able to withdraw all flying. If Pinnacle would have continued on the path they were going then no one there would have a job, that doesn't bode well for your career expectations by the definition you set. I would have liked my so called career expectations more at Colgan with all the Q400s or even at XJ with the flow and solid performance numbers leading to more flying despite the loss of the Saabs. I guess this is how these things work though, we see things from our own perspective and think our own side should be on top. In the end this debate is futile, what is decided is decided. We all know it will be a mix of relative seniority and DOH. Really, what more do you want?