https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_carrier

Legacy carrier is one that conducted interstate travel prior to deregulation. That’s why Hawaiian and Alaska are legacies and why Southwest is not. It only flew in Texas at the time of deregulation.

 

With your position in the union, you should be a Uniter… In more then 20 years, I have never heard one guy “throw it around like it has weight.” I really believe Alaska has some of coolest pilots in the industry, and you act like we are all a bunch of tools. I have a great time flying with FO’s here, guess what, many pick my trips up and trade into them because they must think I am a pretty ok guy? And no I don’t give out investment advice, or push out successes in my life… we talk about cool stuff!

 

or, another way of looking at it... of the 5 airlines that still exist that had interstate travel prior to deregulation in 1978, 4 have long haul widebody flying and one does not. There is no, "Tend To Have". Those 4 airlines HAD long haul widebody fly before '78 and still have it. There's no club checklist to complete before you're accepted into the Legacy fold. If SW or JB started flying widebodys long haul and joined alliances today, they still wouldn't be considered "Legacy". "Legacy" refers to one parameter. All this chest puffing is meaningless. The "Legacy" tag does not give bargaining power, ie (AS, AA, HA) or bestow prestige, ie (AS, AA, HA). Inflated ego is the only reason pilots even mention "Legacy". It makes them feel important...

 

Per the .gov definition, AS is a legacy. Period. The average pilot on the street would probably think of the big three when you say legacy.

But there might be more to the distinction than chest puffery... would you rather an arbitrator compare you to your fellow legacies or to ULCC?

You can argue that AS resembles the others, except for widebodies. And widebodies have their own hourly rates and workrules.

 

And that leads us right back to where we started.

KnockKnock got all twisted over the literal definition, completely dismissing the vernacular definition.

 

​​​​​​​Lemme guess, you tell them you’re “pretty laid back”

 

I don't give a rip about being compared to the other 4 "Legacies", I prefer to be compared to the top 4 compensated pilot groups. Of which, currently, 3 are "Legacy" and one which isn't. If this Russian invasion of Ukraine really upsets the economy, that may change and the "Legacies" my be dethroned as we've all seen before. Wasn't long ago when people chose SW over UAL, AA, DAL and CAL because they were the top compensated pilot group. Nobody was strutting around telling folks they worked for a Legacy back then. Post 9-11, being compared to the other Legacies was AS's contractual downfall. This idea that "Legacy" carries panache is self imposed by pilots. It's an ego stroke. So Flyprdu's use of the analogy of AS being a pseudo Legacy is meaningless because the title of "Legacy" is nothing more than a time stamp. Sure, compensate me in line with DAL, UAL and SW soley because they're currently the at the top of the compensation pyramid. But drop the Legacy b.s. because if NK, F9, JB or any other pilot group exceeds them.....compensate me in line with them, not the "Legacies".

 

I bet you're fun at parties.

 

you'd win that bet

 

Indigo owns Frontier and wasn't it also Indigo that started Spirit. That would seem to be a big reason they are now merging. Just a thought 🤔