That isn’t the point. The regional pilots getting seniority numbers as part of any absorption of the flying would simply be a reality. There’s no other way to staff the aircraft in the next several years without them. The point is that there is real leverage in an absorption for APA .

 

You call out someone else for dividing group then you claim legacy AA guys don’t sign up to be check airmen. Thats some irony.

 

If APA would have worked with the WO MECs and ALPA National last spring, the WOs might not have gotten as big of a raise because they might be on the bottom of the AA seniority list right now still flying CRJs to CHO but at mainline rates. But APA is more worried about protecting those precious Airbus seats for military pilots who aren't on property yet because we all know the military guys are too good to fly a CRJ even if it payed mainline rates. Can't have forner regional guys taking too many of those God-given Airbus seats. It's their birthright!

There is no reason a CRJ at a mainline rate should not be the bottom plane at AA. Every couple CRJs that are parked with no Airbus or 737 added at AA risks market share loss and gives competitors a chance to come into a smaller market that already lost three out of five flights a day this year without replacement mainline flights coming in.

AA needs to move the regional flying and planes in-house or risk losing to competitors, but APA guys are fighting seniority/staple of regionals to protect military guys who aren't even working for AA.

But keep calling it regional charity. Meanwhile more AA WO regional pilots are continuing to leave to competitors than flowing or new guys coming to regionals, and CRJs and 175s are being parked, routes are cut, and competitors stand a chance to move in. Working with the WOs instead of looking down your nose at them would help fix this.

It's not like AA can just quickly add enough Airbuses to cover the rate of parked regional jets. The factories are already busy with current Bus and 737 orders. The quickest fix is to leep the regional size planes working by moving them and their pilots up to AA. Who gives a crap if the military guys ha e to be a CRJ FO to start if they are paid a mainline rate to do it.

 

Source? Or is this your opinion? I’m military by the way, and would be fine stapling the WO’s…stapling only. I’m not privy to any inside baseball at the APA, so never heard this was in serious discussion.

 

Let's be clear.. mil guys would have no problem starting on an RJ if the pay was competitive with the other airlines. I was prior mil coming to AA and we had 190s still in PHL at that time. I would have had no issue starting in the 190 had they not been in just PHL. The mil guys aren't coming to the airlines because they care about what plane they fly... they are coming for QOL and pay. If the RJs were all brought mainline and the pay was right... the mil will still come. If they were all stapled to mainline and then they were forced to be on some B scale type pay for years.. then yeah they are going to go somewhere else.

 

Staple. 5 Year fences. For the duration of the fence off the street new hires go to "mainline" acft unless they choose to go to an RJ. They're already paying mainline rates for RJ pilots we may as well take advantage of it. This gets the WO guys seniority numbers and the mil/off street get to choose what they want. At the end of the 5 years everything will be well integrated.

Today's RJs are more advanced and in some cases have more seats than the entry level mainline acft from 30-40 years ago like fokkers and the stubby DC9s.

 

Umm... 5 year fence with the WO? No thanks! Merge the 3 WO, increase flow and call it a day. WO are brining nothing to the table, what fences are you talking about?

 

Nope.

Long term we need to get all flying performed on behalf of AA back onto the AA seniority list. Besides, if they are all stapled behind you, what issue do you have with that whole operation being merged into ours?

 

As others have indicated, bring in the regional feed in house would have given APA a good deal of negotiating power. However, the time to staple came and past. WO unions wanted to work with APA and were rebuffed. WOs took pay instead. The pay is slowing WO attrition significantly, some pilots are even passing on flow now. I can’t see AAG giving up on their regional model now. WO pay will go back down in few years and AAG will have their low pay regional model for the long term. I don’t see a reason in arguing about it now. The deal is done.

 

The WO staffing just diverted billions away from APA and Isom is paying 50 seat RJ LCA more than 777 LCA… Bringing the WO in house would give Mainline pilots a larger piece of that pie instead of the BS 10/5/3 pay rate offer you guys got to offset the 50%+ pay raise he just gave the step children.