My position is as a airline pilot and union member. The east agreed to a process, didn't like the results and used mob rules to get what they wanted, or at least not what was the final ruling. I went thru a merger myself(NWA), didn't like the results as I'm sure many on the Delta side didn't. However, we (NWA & Delta) accepted the award and went forward with the results like professionals and adults. I have a feeling the east pilots would be doing just like the west has if the tables had been turned. Outside of your own group(east) I am pretty certain that the rest of the profession looks down on you.

So, did you and DL have a process like we did, where you got a SLI first, instead of the money? NO. You, like most that chime in on this ignore that FACT.

You had no choice but to live with it. You learned from our mistakes.

USAPA tried to force it's will. It failed. We all paid for it.

If you don't know the facts you should stay out of it.

Rationalize all you want, it doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure the larger group could have voted ALPA out and pulled what your group did. They didn't.

Perhaps, but it would have been much harder with a SLI that was in use. What you might have missed in the past is that I said that absent the AA merger I thought USAPA would have eventually lost it's DFR.

This was a very specific set of circumstances. Like a chain of events in an accident, had any one been different or changed, the outcome likely would have changed.

What you, and most other uninformed pilots, ignore or don't understand is how our transition agreement led to this. Do some research and when you have the facts, get back to me. You will need to study the TA, the Nicolau opinion and award, the Kirby proposal, all the lawsuits, the AA merger and finally the MOU.

Don't bother with junior ATL 88 pilot or Alaska guy. Those guys never spent a day in your shoes. They both have slanted opinions and they could care less about the facts of the case. It's easy to snipe from the sidelines. Personally I could give two craps what those guys think. Judge Silver ruled. AOL lost. End of story. Their little comments from the sidelines are like the sore losers that say "you guys suck" after their team loses a football game.

No -- their comments (including mine) come from the only pilots who are truly unbiased in this issue. We have nothing to gain from the decision regardless of outcome. And I have yet to see ANYONE who is truly on the outside who agrees with the East position.

Your group will be forever looked down upon because of the travesty that has occurred. I may not agree with Nicolau's decision, but both you and the west guys turned it over to him, and agreed to accept the outcome....but then you reneged on that.

Well the east weaseled their way out of a binding arbitration. Well played. Reading the ruling I was amazed by how Silver openly recognized USAPA's motives but was unable to rule against them. Your actions would have made the crooks on Wall Street proud. Her admonishment to fairly represent the West class in the upcoming SLI was laughable. Like asking a wolf to stay out of the hen house next time. And what happens when 'shockingly' USAPA doesn't fairly represent the West? It's all such a farce.

But I'm sure this stain will remain with the East pilots for the rest of their careers. I imagine most of them don't care. You successfully used your power of union control to screw the under represented. Your fellow pilots industrywide have seen your true colors. You gain some numbers on the list but leave behind a shameful legacy. I'm sure your kids will be proud.

I had a DL pilot on the jumpseat that told me he was sorry about what happened with the Nicolau award, that it was a travesty that ALPA didn't do something about it and it was especially tragic to because of the group on the other side of the table(I will keep his comments about AWA pilots to myself as I didn't agree with him).

I believe brakechatter is a DL pilot that actually knows what went on.

Again, you and the others make this out to be simpler than it is. I have given you all an opportunity to show me what you know. You decline, because YOU DON'T KNOW!

What should we have done Laker? Stayed in our quagmire forever? You do realize that the MOU changed the TA and the west voted for it OVERWHELMINGLY, right? Had they voted NO, the Nic would have been as relevant as ever and there would have been no need for this latest DFR case.

What should you have done? I guess my inclination would be to say you should have abided by your original obligation set forth in the AWA/USAir merger. Mediation followed by binding arbitration. But that argument has been beaten to death, dug up from it's grave and beaten some more.

The MOU was voted in overwhelmingly by both sides. It was a masterful act of trickery. Sold as having no bearing on the West's right to the NIC or the East's right to fight the NIC. The truth was obviously very different. Syzmanski (sp?) knew what he was doing all along.

I don't think you seem like a bad guy. You are not nearly as nasty of vehement as many East pilots on other boards. But it sounds like you have some time to go at this company. I don't think you can imagine how sh#t upon the West feels. 7 years of being bent over by the detritus that runs USAPA. The cockpits won't be segregated forever. Might be uncomfortable for the rest of your career trying to convince the guy in your right seat that you just wanted what was fair, etc.

Probably the first time in Aviation history that this kind of damage to pilot families' futures has been inflicted by fellow pilots and not management.