It's US Airways.. Not USAir anymore.. Sorry, it bothers be whenever I hear that.

 

I agree with you on this. DOH never should have been in the C&BLs, and it should be removed. It is binding on no one, except USAPA and could tie our hands. I am planning on bringing it up to our new president.

Serious question though. I've always though Nic missed the mark on a couple points. First, his method of protecting the small number of US widebodies was absurd. Would you like to see his method of protecting widebody flying applied to a US/AA merger? Where every 777 capt, F/o, second F/O and IRO(whatever their terms) slot goes to AA on the top of the list and then we start slotting? So many people don't understand that is what Nicoalu did, and then he used a different slotting method for the rest of us.

The second part was the long longevity furloughs. Look at the Pan Am/National merger and see what that arbitrator had to say about slotting pilots with such disparities in longevity and age.

My personal feeling is that if there is going to be a slotted list, relative position makes more sense than slotting by equipment. If you are in the top X of a seniority list, you get the benefit of what that position brings, schedules, holidays etc. When you slot by equipment, a lot of guys that have no desire to fly Int'l get a bit of super seniority, just as our guys around 350-517 did. I wouldn't mind going to flat capt and F/O rates, with a small int'l override, but think that gets harder to do when you average them over 99 seats to 300+.

I have a gut feeling that a AA/US merger will never happen.

 

2,100 pilots at TWA, when the buyout was announced. 800 integrated, at 1:8, and the rest stapled. Too lazy to calculate it; but, quite a bit different than 46%.

Biggie

 

Hello Biggie,

TWA had close to 2400 total pilots at time of merger.

As I recall, close to 1000 TWA pilots got integrated and about 1300 got stapled, which is fairly close to 46/54%. Those percentages are APA and ALPA's estimates as well, I'm not making it up.

 

I know this has been talked about before, but what are peoples feelings on PHL if this merger happened? Airways has said more than once that phl and dca are there most profitable bases, so i wouldn't think they would want much reduction there. Also, airways has literally a complete monopoly at PHL as is, i would think that would be attractive to AA because of the competition at jfk to move some flying there, especially if more gate space could be had. Thoughts?

 

How long have AMR's furloughs been on the street?

How far back did AMR furlough into their list? 1-5 year seniority range?

How many AA furloughs are still on the street? ~400 have yet to be recalled while 1000+ bypassed?

Any thoughts on how Eagle pilots with seniority numbers will be protected in a hypothetical merger?

 

AA73,
I have read many of your posts in the past. I believe you are one of the few AA pilots that have a grasp of what is unfolding with your airline. You truly sound like a great person.

However, I need to add more information to the way the "fair and equitable" integration occurred. I will not challenge your ratio's, for I was one of the pilots in the 54% range. Did not much matter for me, a K-mart type pilot. But, how many readers truly trust any data for either ALPA or APA? Oh, pick me! NOT!

Lets start with fences with the B777. TWA guys locked off equipment until AA pilot number xxxxx can hold the seat. Fair, sure! But, what about Supp CC? All TWA pilots FORCED into STL to hold their new seniority number. TWA East and West coast based B75/76 pilots, not allowed into the ANY AA crew bases? Sounds fair to me?

Next, how about talking just a little bit how the 54% got screwed? AA had the school house running at 80 plus new hires a month during the time period the courts were reviewing the merger. Did I say a merger? Oh, wrong accusation. On the day the courts approved the "transaction", New Hire pilots, even if training day 1, became senior to my 7 years with TWA. Roughly around 600 numbers I lost. Lets stay on Supp CC, shall we? AMR has included the elimination on Supp CC and the possible closing of STL as a pilot crew base in the 1113 term sheet. If this occurs under the current AMR and APA plan, staple ratio would increase to, say 100%!

Some ask, why did you not go to a more stable airline. Easy, I shopped, but there were too many factors that made me stay. Yes, MY choice! Scheduling, work rules, great employees, fast upgrade times and a secure retirement plan. AA, US, DL and U how did that company pension work for ya?

So, ARM felt sorry for poor struggling TWA? Tell you what, we (AMR) will merger with you to help out. Not so much! TWA was kicking the Sh*t out of them in the the Caribbean market. So, they did what the also did. Eliminated the competitor through accusation.

Fire Away.

 

As a former PI (you get that? former?) pilot, I understand the not being too fond of USAir. But, your tag line pulled me in. AWA until the last day? Guess what? AWA's last day was a long time ago, just like the real Piedmont's was. Get over it.

 

PHL would serve as a good domestic connection spot for the northeast and east coast. USAirways serves many second tier cities that AA/AE currently serve from DFW/ORD, but doesnt have the slots to serve them from JFK.

JFK is already at max capacity for AA, and there arent any new slots to be had (unless they buy JB, but thats a new thread). JFK will always be the big international hub, and limited domestic connections to first tier cities like BOS/DCA/MIA/LAX. I cant see much flying eliminated at JFK and moved to PHL, but there would be many east coast cities that PHL could serve that AA doesnt currently serve.

But whether that all is enough reason to want a merger between AA/US is debateable.

 

If they end up shutting down Piedmont with the Dash retirements than all those senior pilots have to start from the bottom somwhere else instead of stay senior at the combined airline.