I went to CAA in 2000 and Comair in 2003 to be a Delta pilot. I had no idea of the animosity between our pilot groups.

With all the trash talk about GoJetsss lowering the bar, I don't want to go there only to slit my wrists (career-wise) a second time.

 

Lawson at Comair also asked for more 70 seat RJs in addition to seniority resignation for any Delta pilot wanting to work during furlough.

 

Even more spin. You can say $10k a year is great pay. Then, you can add "in Africa" in the notes at the bottom. We have a different type of operation, and we have had a very profitable two years. Then, how would you throw in fee differences at Delta, like $950 million in bag fees, when Southwest doesn't have those at all? Should that be looked at for possible pay increases? ALPA seems to leave that important number out of any memos. Where is that number included? Let me guess? You again put that in the "foot notes" in small print. It's hard to compare the two airlines, but that doesn't mean both can't pay high wages, both are very profitable. Quit aiming low.

 

The Comair Academy which became the Delta Connection Academy always made me laugh. Very few pilots that went there actually fly at Delta. It was always just a marketing scam. I have nothing against you personally. You should do everything in your power to quit Comair short of crossing a picket line. If you don't, you will eventually get laid off with no recall.

 

Hey Boomer;

I like you. I dont give a rats a$$ where you work or worked. I like you. I think you are funny smart and have a great attitude.

End of the day, thats who DAL hires.

Then some people like me slip thru the cracks, its the law of averages.

 

True. He also hinted that larger RJ's were on the table as well, like the 90 seaters flying around with 76 seats in a 2 class management preferred config that eventually hapened anyway.

Comair management had a long standing policy that they didn't always enforce that required seniority resignation. Ironically it is the exact same policy DL itself had and still does.

ASA management had no such policy.

DL went to the ASA and Comair MEC's, both of which were in on the PID and passively agressively supporting the RJDC by the way, and told them to ask their managements to hire without seniority resignation or they would be punished. The ASA MEC said "yeah sure whatever dood its already existing policy so whatever" and the CMR MEC puffed up their chests and acted like they had leverage they never did. Plenty of arrogance to go around.

Then when the dust settled, the ASA pilot group was acting like they stepped up and helped brothers in need with a valliant effort when they in fact actively did nothing (as a group) and the DL MEC had the scapegoat they needed to distract their membership from the catestrophic scope failures C2K allowed as DCI went on a multi thousand pilot hiring fest in addition to putting the DL mainline seniority resignation policy itself that was actually harming the furloughed pilots behind the political smokescreen they needed so it didn't have to be directly addressed.

Meanwhile plenty of furloughed AA and UAL (among many, many others) went on to get temp work at ASA and Comair because their airlines refused to recognize their fake resignation letters as everyone knew they were written under duress anyway. Only DL management vowed to honor such letters, the same that Comair required and that the DL MEC refused to worry about getting changed.

Not to mention DL owned both and could have very easily forced both to hire as many pilots as DL demanded without seniority resignation. It was a Delta problem with a Delta solution that the outsourcing happy Delta MEC didn't want to spend one more second on then they had to. When they saw a political move to blame it on a regional group they jumped all over it, while continuing to defend the thousands of new DCI pilots the scope failures they endorsed directly caused even as they defended said scope failures by having the audacity to say RJ's were saving their bacon and were it not for the outsourcing there would be even more furloughs so the furloughed pilots should be thanking them.

The end result drove a bigger wedge between DL and ASA/CMR pilots as well as well as between the ASA and CMR pilots during a time when predatory bargaining ("deal me an ace") was really starting to spool up in the regional sector. Suddenly "pay for training" was perfectly acceptable as well as GoJet and any other cut throat pay for jet time ambitions by any and every pilot group imaginable and the race to the bottom was 90 degrees nose down in full afterburner.

 

That's a shame. Luckily, most everyone will be gone in 15 years and there will be no one left to complain.

 

So, we can tell our Southwest buds we actually make more than them?

 

At some level, that is what he's sayin.

 

Hockey,

I was furloughed from DAL when JC penned the "letter." At the same time ASA was hiring DAL guys - without requiring resignation. I say we should learn from our mistakes and also never forget that the Comair Pilot group tried to leverage the misfortunes of the junior DAL Pilots into political clout. I do however, make a distinction between Pilot groups and individual Pilots. Judging by his posts I think Boomer is the kind of guy we would like to have around here.

Even though I was very unhappy with the Comair Pilot groups antics and have no love for the Comair Pilots as a group- I will continue to judge individuals individually. Sounds like Boomer was not even on board when all this went down.

Boomer - Hang in there. Try to use your former military contacts to get your foot in the door.

Scoop