Originally Posted by hoserpilot (Post 998085)

Last year I took my family and the neighbors to the holiday inn resort on front beach road at panama city beach. I called between 9-5 m-f and talked to the reservation agent at the hotel. We got two rooms for $70 a night with our airline discount. I joined the priority club and got a few free cocktails each night. The regular rate was $200+ a night. Its right on the beach, water park for the kids, game room, karaoke, and other kids activities. Liquor store across the street for cheap florida booze for mom and dad. Lots of cheap fun for a quick getaway.

Our other adventures take us to Tybee island. The beach on the south side is fun. We drag a cooler full of beer to the beach and watch the kiddo's swim.

Last weekend was spent camping at westpoint lake with the boat floating 20' away from the tent!!! The lake is nice and warm now. There are a couple good sandy beaches. One at pyne road park and the other is on cameron mill road.

Originally Posted by NuGuy (Post 998000)

Heyas T,

Here's the problem with some of the SWA guy's position:

1) 20 year career expectation for a SWA pilot: 737 captain
20 year career expectation for a AT pilot: 737 captain

2) The paycheck that the SWA guys receive is between them and the company. If the company decides to pay the AT guys the same amount of money, not one DIME comes out of the SWA pilot's pocket, unless you use some "maybe, kinda, sorta in the future that was going to be our money" reasoning, which arbitrators never listen to. They are usually VERY good at separating out seniority issues (which are between pilots) from purely financial issues (which are between the pilots and the company).

3) If you use any kind of integration method that would pass muster at SWA (remember, they get MEMRAT for the SLI, as do the AirTran pilots), it will get voted down at AT, and vice versa.

4) The first thing an arbitrator will look at is "can I mush these guys together so as to not cause any harm to any party". If you start taking seats away from the AT guys, which practically all of the methods that the SWA guys are proposing would do, then harm has been done.

Conversely, if you do a relative seniority merge, no one gets harmed, at least directly and in the easily defineable immediate future.. No one has lost any CURRENT bidding power. Arbitrators are loath to engage in "what if" games.

5) If the SWA guys want to get some credit for their older pilot group, they might consider a pull and plug methodolgy similar to the DAL/NWA merger. It's got precedent, and arbitrators LOVE precedent, and it might net them a couple of hundred spots on the list, although the net might be zero if the ratio was tweaked ahead of time to account for it.

As for funding AAIs SLI....I'm told they had a major contingency fund that was kept in their name after the ALPA merger, so they have a fairly large warchest independent from ALPA.

Nu

Originally Posted by FlyZ (Post 997940)

Guys, since life is a little slow here today you should mosey over to the SWA/AT Hard Landings thread. It makes for some pretty entertaining reading and makes me appreciate that (most) all of that merger stuff is behind us! Although, I don't think there was ever as much flaming going on here as they have now.

Originally Posted by Adolphus Coors (Post 998098)

I don't know bro. if you look at career earnings potential and the 717; things should skew in favour of the SWA guys big time. Air Tran is not in the same league at all.

Originally Posted by LandGreen2 (Post 998075)

hey guys/gals...need to see a beach with the kids ages 9,11. either drive from the ATL; or fly to a non rev friendly location. of course, interline discounts always welcome.

any good trip reports out there?

thx

Originally Posted by Adolphus Coors (Post 998098)

I don't know bro. if you look at career earnings potential and the 717; things should skew in favour of the SWA guys big time. Air Tran is not in the same league at all.

Originally Posted by tsquare (Post 998127)

I am pretty sure that earnings potential will have little.. if anything to do with it. That is a big variable over the course of a lifelong wedding. A 737 is a 737 is a 737... No career expectation there except the left seat of that. And I agree.. Airtran had business customers that SWA will send running for the exits... I hope we honor their frequent flier points and take that business away from SWA..

Originally Posted by scambo1 (Post 998131)

T;
I am calling you out man. Pull the pin, toss the grenade. You almost got luvjockey back in the food fight.:D

Originally Posted by Adolphus Coors (Post 998098)

I don't know bro. if you look at career earnings potential and the 717; things should skew in favour of the SWA guys big time. Air Tran is not in the same league at all.