THIS government? Run by the smartest people ever? couldn't be that.

Take a look at the FO staffing on the -ER. Want to know where those crews of which you speak will come from? Oh yeah, and since we are still paid like it was 1950... nevermind. Ya'll will figure it out soon enough... too bad it won't ever take hold though.

ALV 15 had nothing to do with overall reserve usage. It was about the difficulty in using reserves to cover long trips. As a extreme example but one that does happen we have some long trips that in some months were worth more then the ALV. They could never be assigned to a reserve pilot under the contract. Even 6 and 7 day trips were often illegal for most reserves later in the month. We acknowledged this but demanded and got a quid to offset the productivity increase. Reserves are now considered full at the reserve guarantee and all known absences including vacation count toward being full. The result on this issue is about a wash but the company can cover long trips without being forced to break up the trips.
Again I will point out the company does not plan on changing any manning assumptions with the new contract.
One other thing that is never brought up here but is without question the single biggest driver on reducing pilot needs is operational integrity. Run a crappy airline and you need more pilots. Run a good airline and you need far fewer pilots. I suppose management now running a far better airline is DALPA's fault!

Somebody gets it....

So ALV+15 only applies to categories with long trips? The 7th SC will only apply to categories with international flying? The data points to a decrease in reserves from 30% in most domestic categories to about 20% now in quite a few. Yours facts.... FAIL

Nobody more well versed in the personal attack than you alfa. A few weeks ago, I posted crticism of ALPA national and the way they handled the Pinnacle deal without even a discussion with our MEC. This is how you responded to that post:

Just a touch hypocritical...wouldn't you say?

Carl

Yes indeed...don't you just hate those personal attacks?

Yet another example of you not responding to the topic. Instead, you build a straw man having nothing to do with the subject, then show us your skill in knocking it down, all while hurling more personal attacks.

Nobody is talking about a "GET MORE" button. Only you are talking about that. What we ARE talking about is why you and other members of the MEC administration put out contract comparisons and road show documents that were heavily slanted and filled with half-truths for the express purpose of making management's case to us. You, the negotiators and the rest of the MEC bureaucracy was on management's side. You did everthing you could to minimize any gains in the TA. They only mystery remaining is why you and your other colleagues did it.

Carl

No, that distinction belongs to the pilots of Hawaiian Airlines. And they did so while explicitly ignoring the recommendations of ALPA national. Our latest scope cave-in with this contract has only hurt APA and UAL/CAL.

Hmmm. You'd think you would know the author of a quote you rely on so much during difficult times. Winston Churchill didn't say this, Teddy Roosevelt did. But it's an interesting comarison you make nonetheless. Everyone always knew where Teddy stood. He said what he wanted to do, then he did it. If you criticized him because you didn't like it, at least you knew he did what he promised. You and the other MEC bureaucrats did just the opposite. You talked the good game of C2K restoration and "not one more seat, and not one more pound". But now we know you folks were really just feverishly manipulating data to produce contract comparisons, etc. that made the case for minimal gains...and prior to Section 6 even beginning. Exactly the opposite of what you said.

Teddy Roosevelt would have criticized you as well. And he wouldn't have let such malfeasance go uncriticized just because you chose to be in the arena.

Carl

No your facts fail. When did ALV plus 15 go into effect? When was the contract signed? There have been two small bids since the contract was signed that were both positive. Pre chapter 11 we staffed at 25 to 30 percent reserve coverage. The company intended the new reserve rules combined with PBS to reduce reserves to 15 percent of staffing. That was in 2005. Your now claiming that is the result of the current contract. That's giving a contract signed 8 months ago mythical powers and there're must have been some secret AE's the last few months. We are down in manning because we are down in block hours. Reserve coverage at the moment is approaching a post chapter 11 high. Many categories are well over 30 percent. That's a result of reduced block hours. Again the company has made zero manning adjustments as a result of the contract. The manning formula in the contract has not changed one pilot. Those are facts.

Being in there fighting is no virtue in and of itself. Should we praise Jimmy Hoffa just because he was "in there"? What you do WHILE you're in there is critically important. Nobody gets a pass on bad deeds just because they were "in there".

The only bitterness I'm hearing is from you alfa. Since there are such a small number of union official positions, the rest of us can only communicate our thougths to our brother pilots, and hope learning and enlightenment ensues. I consider that positive action.

Everyone should know that this is the exact language our elected reps would get from alfa and the other MEC bureaucrats when they dared to disagree with the direction of the administration. It's no wonder why we were so ineffectual this time around.

Carl