I see nothing to gain by magically annointing another seniority list with DL numbers. Particularly if it involves DL numbers and longevity while still at their regional, maybe even for years, as that would involve a very steep price to pay for virtually zero gain. Unless the actual aircraft are transferred to our list as well, with a corresponding reduction in large allowable AC to be outsourced, simply putting more pilots on to our list south of our scope line without moving the scope line the same distance south does nothing other than try and trick the company into hiring top scale new hires which they're not going to do.

This is a mainline scope problem with a mainline scope solution. Reduce the allowable airframes to be outsourced and operate them here, with new hires at the bottom of the list. Simply gifting seniority numbers to regional pilot groups and/or placing them into our MEC does nothing whatsoever to change the fact that the airframes they fly are outside our scope line. CPZ being in the DL MEC was rediculous. The planes were still outsourced for incredibly low pay and benefits, they still had a separate contract and extremely limited leverage with a fairly weak long term contract. The only "link" was the flow, which was preserved either way anyway. If they were still part of the MEC, all that would do long term would be to set up DALPA for a DFR.

Even though CPZ would make the most sense of the bunch, the concept just doesn't work or do anything to reduce outsourcing or its negative effects. It doesn't bring the flying to this side of the line at all. Not by a single jet. And even if we re-annointed CPZ and somehow made it work, what about all the other "DCI" carriers…most (if not all by now) who fly for other legacy airlines as well. So regionals with numtipile seniority numbers at multipile carriers? Not going to work.

Feasible, but far from cost-effective.

We have a new Negotiating Committee Chairman. Good man for the job, IMO.

Eliminating age 65 would not solve the regional pilot shortage. On the contrary, many of us in our 30s/40s will look at the stagnation of the last 10 years and decide it's not worth sticking around if "paying our dues" means another ten years in the minor league.

A lot of us stuck it out by telling ourselves (and our families) "It's only five years and then the majors will be hiring again"

Many of us could replace our regional pay tomorrow, but haven't bailed because we still want a possible career at the majors. Take that away and watch a thousand regional pilots turn in their two-week notice.

Couldn't be more wrong 80.

Yes, he was quite effective as Contract Administration Chairman in the mid-2000's.

uh...... well.... shhhhhhh.

BB, the term "Barbarians at the Gate" refers to the 1988 LBO of the RJR Nabisco company. It was a famous book (and movie), but maybe before your time. It was about the largest takeover of a company in Wall Street history. The parallel and image I'm trying to create is that of greedy hoards storming the castle to take over. That is, hoards of RJ pilots trying any way they can (think RJDC lawsuit) to get onto the Delta seniority list with their years of service and seniority intact without having to be interviewed and hired in competition with military pilots and the employment market in general.

Saying that you are really a Delta pilot anyway because you have a widget on your jet, it says Delta on your paycheck, you are a "division" of Delta, you are also an ALPA member, etc... is just another way of storming the castle.

.........................

I'm not advocating scope recapture. Not at this point. The horse is already out of the barn. Way out. I'm not willing to spend one cent of negotiating capital to tighten up scope to force Delta to put 70 or even 76 seat RJ's onto mainline.

Surely you can see why. From a pilot perspective of anyone not currently near the bottom of the Delta seniority list, why would I want a huge voting block of junior pilots suddenly on the list? Why would I care about airplanes I'll never bid to fly?

Surely you can see why. From a company perspective, why would I want thousands of pilots with 12 or more years of seniority pay scale when I could hire those same pilots onto the 1 year pay scale? And, pick and choose from amongst them, and even choose military pilots as well.