Thank you.. thank you.. thank you... I thought it was just me that was not fully acronym compliant.

Sink nailed the definition, proving he knew what it meant, so I let his definition stand. For clarification a "PID" is a request for a Policy Implementation Date under ALPA's Merger and Fragmentation Policy. If successful ALPA would engage its merger procedures which include the filing of a Single Carrier Petition with the National Mediation Board to have the merging pilots found to be a Single Class or Craft in a Common Transportation System under the Railway Labor Act. With that finding, the groups are merged under US law.

That is just the procedure in a nut shell. Since Sailing isn't defending "ALPA can't" currently, I'll step in and argue his side by saying that the NMB is political and somewhat inconsistent. Getting a Single Carrier Petition won against management's arguments isn't easy. It is easier to win if no one is arguing against you (obviously).

Thanks for that excellent article BB (and your earlier post).

This was written in 1998, but was right on the money, and the 'virtual airlines' (RJ's and JV's) have only grown since then.

If we could find this Mann person who wrote this, I would love to see an update, and hear his ideas for the future. Funny how Express went away, once we took a 42% pay cut and agreed to do ALL Mainline flying at Express rates!

When it comes to Airline Managment, this has always been a "Monkey See, Monkey Do" industry. Ever since Frank Lorenzo took Eastern apart, other Managements have learned how to play the Bankruptcy Card to get what they want.

But... looking foreward, Emirates, Singapore and the Indians are growing with new, big, airplanes, and will be stealing away some of every US Carrier's International traffic, as they can under cut us all, with thier lower labor costs and better new aircraft financing deals. And China is starting to build big airplanes as well.

So where is our US Congress, who could write laws, to protect our Jobs?

Oh, they're busy taking "Re election Campaign Contributions" from China, India and the UAE, no dout!

Bar, Sink, Sailing, etc...

Thanks for the thoughtful recollections. As someone hired after all that stuff went down, I'm still learning stuff that I could have used when I was hired in 2003 (as in, go to ASA or CHQ). I'll do what I can to prevent a repeat of those events.

And if nothing else, when I get mean looks :mad: from 4,000 Delta pilots at least I know why.

They're just jealous of your hair!

Does any one here know if the USMC will accept a 5 year old?

I do need to get it cut. It gets in my eyes and tangles up in my ipod ear buds while I skateboard through the terminal. :D

Does this 5 year old know how to drink and cuss?

A 5 year old can be taught to drink and cuss in one short car ride to the liquor store...don't ask me (or my wife) how I know!

The Marines take females correct? If you have a chance while discussing your 5 year old with a recruiter, could you throw out a question for me?

How about a 12 year once a month for a week? Or, when ever they refuse to clean their room?