Two thoughts: other carriers have had to wait 5-6 years to get a contract, so 2-3 doesn't mean anything. As for the company dithering, they will do that for a while, and then put something meaningful enough on the table that the mediator has back down...for a while.

Alter ego operation: it could happen. GoJet and Freedom were just that. I'm not saying it would be easy, but it would be much easier than getting pilots to cross an actual picket line.

I wish you guys the best, but it's likely to get worse before it gets better.

Wow. You really don’t understand the level of ineptitude were dealing with. A training department that is so unsat, was shut down temporarily by the FAA last winter. An mx department that can barely keep up. Did you see our latest air return today? What are we up to for the year now? Seems like were on track to break last years horrendous record. They would take best practices from where? Because they pay so well?

Laughable, an alter ego, parallel operation would share the same fate as al-Maliki’s Baghdad government.

It won't take 5-6 years to get a contract because it CAN'T. With the constant exodus of pilots and the inability to train people fast enough, this method of doing business is unsustainable. If the present course is unaltered, there will either be an FAA-imposed cessation of operations or (heaven forbid) a cessation that results from a disaster with loss of life. The current pilots are what's keeping the second scenario from unfolding. As these pilots leave for better-paying pastures and the only pilots we can attract have questionable experience levels, I fear the worst.

This one is my favorite: G4 Pilots 1, F&H remf’s 0. Before the year is up, will be 2 & 0. Momentum baby!

Saw a return for a rapid depressurization. Ouch.

Republic would gladly pick up a contract to fly your passengers and routes. That's exactly what Republic did to Midwest before destroying it. Republic has plenty of orphan RJs and a soulless pilot group that would jump at the chance to replace you.

The thought has occurred to me that F&H solutions or AAY management posts in these forums, disguised as average Joe, been-there-done-that pilots.

I guess if I were them, I probably would too. Great propaganda plugs!

Is that how it went down at Spirit?

I think we have one or two candidates on this thread. This is all I have to say those pogue’s:

G4 Pilots 1, F&H remf’s 0. Before the year is up, will be 2 & 0. Momentum baby!

To answer the original question, I say republic.

How sad is that? Because no matter how long it takes to get a contract, we will still have the same con artists and muddle-managers running this company. It was a great concept: buy a bunch of cheap old airplanes, run it to places that nobody else goes, use eager, cheap labor and then sell it. It's been tried before and had it not been for an accident ValuJet would still be here.

To those looking to come here, stay away for your own good. To those that are already here, take your experience and type ratings and go. There are too many other airlines that respect and reward your skill set Airlines that don't require you to carry the incompetence that comes with Allegiant's profit-at-all-cost business model.