Delta could have traded them 2:1 for the larger RJ's like they are going to do anyway. Except, we could have operated them at mainline. Do you really think Delta is going to keep these CRJ200's around until 2022?

See the TA thread, I've got a question about this. I'm pulling it out of this thread.

Yes, I'm pul.... okay, no jokes. :D

Does no one else see the dis-connect in the latest company email? The company is gonna park the 50 seater's whether we give away more large rjs or not!! They have to eventually! What in this TA allows them to park them now vs our current contract? NOTHING AT ALL!!!

VOTE NO

You are living in a fantasy world of you think that would be a home run. It's about a double. Still 3% below SWA W2. Congratulations.....your expectations have been managed.

I hate to do math in public, but for a 767 FO, isn't that 3% that you're so worked up over equal to about $300/month before taxes, or about $100 net per paycheck? I can see being disappointed-- I am. Outraged, though? Not over that amount of money.

Notice the will pay the greater?

According to my best friend of 35yrs, this is to set up for flying that is coming because of the merger.

But maybe you're right. Our 10:30 3dys are much better. :rolleyes:

Bottom line: After 8 years of BK, this TA is far too little, in all areas.

Bring on our normal section 6.

They could only operate them at the mainline if its on a cost competitive basis. We once again attempted to show that it could be done. We could not produce numbers even close. Thats the fallacy of the operate at the mainline concept. Unless you cost competitive you lose the flying completely and lose the existing mainline flying the feed generated.
This was a bit of a surprise to me since I felt we could be competitive on a 76 seater. It did not turn out to be the case. If it was the case then most managements would operate the aircraft at their mainline fleets. It would be a win win so to speak. Instead after looking at the numbers management teams fight almost to the death to keep the flying at lower cost providers. There is a reason.

They don't have to park the 50 seaters. DCI is doing just fine at the moment. What they are trying to do is create more profit margin which is the primary goal of management. They will look at the cost of a contract verses the costs to park 50 seaters combined with the capital costs to purchase replacement aircraft. At some point those cost lines come together. Thats management point of no return so to speak. We don't know their exact number but we have a pretty good idea. They will go with the concept that produces the most profit.

Sailing,

Out of curiosity, did the data show we couldn't be cost competitive against DCI or against other mainline aircraft like the 737-700, A319, DC-9, and now the 717?

It seems to me that it would be hard to compete against regional carriers since there are so many and they tend to keep their longevity low in addition to being willing to undercut crew cost. When the cost start to rise the mainline partners starts squeezing and the flying gets transferred to the next regional start-up that will start the longevity all over again. I've said it before, but if we ever outsourced the 737s I believe that it would always be too expensive to recapture that flying as well, not because we couldn't do it competitively but because other pilot groups would be willing to undercut us by at least 30%.

I know that the smaller a plane gets the less efficient it is but I still believe that comparing the current regional fleet to the current small narrow body fleet at Delta makes the 76-86 seat RJ competitive.

Slowplay quoted a number on one of these threads that it would cost 30% more to do the flying ourselves. To me it looks like most of that is crew cost to bring the RJs inline with other narrowbody cost per seat. I'm sure there is a RASM issue but it looks like Delta is doing well by adding the first class seats to the RJ product. By flying them at mainline they could also add more coach seats to help increase the RASM.

If you really want to compare paychecks with SWA, you need to look at W-2s. You'll fall out of your chair when you see the real difference. Also, compare 5-year FO to 5-year FO. I do know a good friend of mine at SWA had a $155K w-2 last year while he averaged 13 days/month (non vacation months only) worked. It's all in the credit (can you say 6.5/day min?)