Like I have told you, I too have an issue with Prater's ineffectiveness. I do not blame the organization, I blame the person for his lack of response. Ergo, change the person not the organization as a first level of resolution. If the pilot's next choice is as ineffective then it may be time to move on to other options, but lest try the non-nuclear option first.

Just my .02

 

Just a hair under 700 airframes in the DCI fleet and a little over 100 at Alaska. Our "feeders" and "code share" partners combined are larger than quite a few other airlines, including Delta.

 

16,

you're killing me. Although the 1st may have been a man, the 2nd more
than makes up for it. Ha several friends make it over there this year an I'm wishing I could have gone. There's always next year.

Where is the AE? (too much serious discussion on the last few pages)

 

I guess I see it as the organisation that not only enables the person to be ineffective, but effectively encourages it. I think we have already stomped the deceased equine, but it bears repeating that the same organisation that you seem to hold sacred is also unavailable to the proletariat. I think you'd be hard pressed to find anybody on any of these boards that are really satisfied with national yet they still thrive and prosper. Why? The non nuclear option of which you speak is a water pistol in Afghanistan.

 

Cute Analogy there T

The single biggest difference is that I still see value in it and I am willing to give the process a chance. You may call that blind optimism, but I see it as a necessary step.

 

My interest in this is purely... photographic. I'm looking at Fraulein #2 (the one without an adam's apple). Must have been shooting in portrait mode, because in portrait, the intended subject is sharp and everything else (aka. "background") is blurry.

Nicely done!

 

Which ever guy you put in there, he will be obligated to represent the RJ pilots just as much as you. The conflict of interest will remain.

 

OK.. we will agree to disagree. National has zero value IMHO. But my opinion is irrelevent, because nothing is gonna change. This will blow over like the PPA did, and we will be left with the same impotent money grabbing "leadership". Congratulations to pilots everywhere.

 

What about block hours? Number of seats? Number of pilots? Number of Delta passengers carried? City pairs that have changed from mostly mainline flights to RJ flights or vice versa?

Number of hulls only tells part of the story... especially when they have been parking smaller airplanes and replacing them with larger ones. Oh... and just to make sure we're talking about the same thing... you are talking about from the date Lee Moak took office to the present, right?

 

T;
Whether this movement fails or succeeds one thing must be learned from it for another "uprising" not to occur. Change needs to happen. Even I strongly beleive that change at national must happen for its long term viability.

We may disagree on where we are in the lifecycle of ALPA, but we do not disagree with some of the finer points. The reality is that UAUA and DAL pilots are getting sick and tired of a lot and are contemplating a walk with with pocket books. I know that if this organization is as you say, they will realize that to survive they need to morph. The unionized labor there also better realize that with one or both pilots group leaving they will be without jobs. It is simply the same sort of reality that we faced a few years go. These people have been insulated to a greater degree than we have because they work for us.

All I have always said is there is value there, and I suspect that these people and this organization are politically savvy enough to read the cards correctly and will understand what is at stake. If they do not, the step you are advocating will occur out of a need greater than the risks involved.