JoeMerchant

Actually my pay has increased every year for the past 15 years...How about yours?

The "union" as you call it it set up so that each pilot group does what is best for themselves....I assume you are a Delta pilot...You don't really care what happens to Midwest, ASA, CMR, or Compass pilots.....You care about what happens to Delta....Just admit it.....

Carl Spackler

Excellent. Is your pay up to the average plumber yet?

Not at all true. I care very much about the regional guys. I wish they would stop working for wages that are an embarrasment. I wish they would stop working for wages that continue to undercut the very profession they hope to achieve. At the very least, I wish they would strike to achieve the wages they should be paid.

If you cared about any other airline or our profession, you wouldn't have continued to prove for the last 15 years, the favorite axiom of management: "Pilots are a dime a dozen."

Carl

Bucking Bar

As others pointed out, Delta hoped AirTran would shift its focus out of Atlanta.

NWA's contribution thwarted AirTran's pricey purchase and provided MidWest with valuable cash. It turned out to be a bad move.

If AirTran had bought MidWest they would have run out of cash in the summer of 08 when their liquidity hit 500 million as the fuel market ran amok. With MidWest's fuel costs, outsourcing expenses and the expense of the acquisition and losses, AirTran would have gone far below zero.

Maybe the lesson here is that outsourcing the majority of your brand is a money loser. Has any airline done well by outsourcing and paying for another airline's operation and profit?

Joe brags about his earnings, while Delta employees have made great sacrifices to keep their company afloat. Since Delta is the only business justification for his ACMI provider's existence, maybe "thanks" would be more appropriate.

upndsky

Just curious, but what have YOU done to help the Midwest, CMR, Compass, Delta or any other pilot group? Or what has YOUR UNION done to help the Midwest, CMR, Compass, Delta or any other pilot group? Other than making a career flying for crappy, sub-standard wages and work rules. But hey, whatever floats your boat.

DAL4EVER

I assume somewhere in here you will include Comair's MEC as well. They didn't care about taking furloughees back in the day for fear that it would be a "safety issue". They were a career airline and wanted career pilots, not fellow ALPA brothers who had hit the street. This after DALPA helped contribute to the Comair pilots ability to remain on strike for "as long as it takes".

When Delta was getting rid of fleet types (727s and 737-200s) there was not battle cry from any of the DCI MECs that "we won't fly work formally flown by mainline while they remain on the street".

So yes, you very eloquently prove that each MEC cares about itself. Which is the way it should be. Think of the NFL and your favorite team. Each team comprises the league and cares about what happens to the other teams. But how often will a team sacrifice a win to another team on the road to the Superbowl?

Bucking Bar

Excellent posts...

johnso29

I agree. Joethemerchant being hypocritical as usual.

capncrunch

Joe is sad he was unable to make the leap to the majors. Hence all the criticism. Many of us have been in the industry half as long(or even less) and are flying the heavy stuff to better destinations and for more money, that chaps him. We all know that when Joe passes us in the terminal a little piece of him dies inside. At this point he is stuck at the regionals and being a little beeotch is all he has left. That and ruining the trips for the copilots he flys with....

Rhino Driver

Have you written your reps today???

1515greenlight

You're right. It's a social club and where you end up is no longer determined by your skills, but where your application ended up in the pile on an HR desk. Let's face it, some carriers like lemmings who do what their told, salute the Captain, keep their mouth shut and collect a paycheck.

Go back and read what Ernie Gann wrote about DAL 60+ years ago...pretty much sums it up today as well. It'll be interesting when they start "educating" the older Cobra's about how the world is shaped. Even better when they mouth off about the relative insignificance of a strikers "battle star."