Avroman

And there are more and more Endeavor pilots proving every day that the SSP isn't worth the crap pay. If you want to wait years for your interview/class making 30K, go right ahead. Meanwhile many have shown Delta just what they think of their interview carrot.

Flitestar

This ^

SSP was a carrot useful for the top senior only. The rest of the pilot group was just fooled by ALPA into thinking it was useful for them too.

Lots of pilots were eager to find something to cling on in order to justify themselves into voting that POS contract in. The SSP was one of those gems.

gojo

The union mislead us also when the said in order to be eligible one must have been a captain at some point. Later it comes out thT you must be an active captain

Flitestar

Yup, that was another big one. It's ok tho, ALPA and/or management (including Delta) know now that they can get absolutely anything they want from this pilot group. Only takes a few carrots, a pocket mirror and a small portable smoke machine.

Beechnut58

Except for the fact that doctors are required to do that schooling because it is directly linked to the job. In no way shape or form is a marketing degree directly related to flying an airplane. Purely a tactic to weed out applicants. I'd much rather fly with the guy with experience and is easy to get along with then the college guy that can't fly for sh** and is a di**.

Flitestar

This is were a lot of guys/gals miss the point.

Your college education gives you more than just some extra knowledge in Marketing -i.e. It shows other qualities that the airline may find attractive, and make you an overall well rounded individual. Maybe they don't want one OR the other, maybe they want the experienced pilot who ALSO has an education. Maybe they don't want only a Chuck Yeager, but someone who also has the higher ed to go with those flying skills. College education and good airmanship can actually be found in the same individual you know...

Somewhat of a skewed analysis too when you associate a college educated pilot exclusively with being a d!&k or unable to fly, it doesn't really work, you got both complete tools and terrible pilots on both sides of the "college" fence.

When I read about an airline requiring a college degree in order to apply, I interpret that they are looking for a pilot to be more than just a good yoke handler and button pusher in their organization, and I understand that, it actually makes sense to me. And yes, it does go side by side with professionalism in my opinion.

With that said, I do agree that it is currently used as a "weeding" technique by many airlines, and at the end of the day, a pilot with a college degree is not a 100% sure bet of a great pilot/employee, but neither is a ten thousand hour pilot who has really only flown 1hr, ten thousand times.

Give the airline a pilot with both the experience and the higher education and odds are better for things to work out well for everybody, IMHO.

jethikoki

If the degree was/is so important then why are those pilots without a degree allowed to keep their jobs during a merger or acquisition? I know, just a weeding tool for hiring pilots but still makes you wonder about standards and fairness in the system.

Some have negative feelings about a flow ok, but shouldn't agreements be honored? Mesaba Airlines had a flow agreement with NWA. Why wasn't ALL Mesaba pilots on property after the DAL NWA merger was complete allowed to flow to DAL. Only a small percentage were allowed. Wonder what would happen if DAL only allowed a small percentage of NWA pilots to keep their jobs at DAL or not honor their agreement. How does Lee Moak face the Mesaba pilots and explain why he chose not to fight DAL to honor their agreement all the while professing unity? Double standards maybe or more unity for mainline pilots?

Pinnacle/Endeavor Airlines did not need to be in bankruptcy except DAL wanted it to be. I agree with some of your statements BB but history has also demonstrated the playing field IS NOT level for regional pilots. When regional pilots try to seek or gain opportunities in bad situations you get chastised rather then equal and fair treatment. It was probably wrong and inappropriate if there was a secret back door agreement that DALPA was not informed or kept out of the loop but then how much effort would PNCL pilots get from DALPA if the company was liquidated? It was your airline that wanted PNCL in bankruptcy but I doubt if anyone at Delta would care much if everyone at the time lost their jobs at PNCL but hay at least you would have your sacred hiring standards intact that I am sure every DAL pilot on property now has been through.

Imapilot2

You answered your own question, NWA had an agreement with Mesaba, not Delta. Mesaba was lucky to get anything. Ask your reps, that were in the room during the original meeting with DAL, about how that meeting went.

Imapilot2

I hear you but many are also getting the job more and more every day proving it worked for some. From a pilot standpoint I hate the games as much as you but guys "showing Delta" is meaningless to DAL. They couldn't care less. They, unfortunately for us pilots, got what they wanted. This aftermath was a calculated result they expected.....and they would and will do it agian to another regional. Hopefully many will get a job at mainline and get out of the subcontractor job.

jethikoki

You say I did I say ALPA did NOT and where ALPA and DALPA got in bed with their DAL management to work against a fellow ALPA member! So we can agree to disagree. BTW, I was at PNCL not Mesaba so it was not applicable to me but it bothers me to see something like this. It may be legal but it is less then honorable and ALPA and DALPA should have taken higher ground and worked to honor the agreements NWA had with a fellow ALPA member. What do you think would happen if only 90% of NWA pilots would have been allowed to go to DAL after the merger? I guess anything is ok until it will affect you.