It is a factor for everybody. It all comes down to what kind of fences are put in after SLI. If there are no fences, I would assume there will be a flood of people interested in coming to the jets. They won't be able to push anyone out of a seat, but they could bid over to the jet side during a vacancy. This would mean that a person who was junior on the jet before, would be staying junior on the jet for a very long time to come as vacancies to the better paying positions would go pretty senior.

Again, EVERYBODY is affected by SLI. The fact that someones spot on the overall list doesn't change, doesn't necessarily mean their outlook for QOL isn't affected.

Wait a minute, what makes you think a new hire at Colgan will get any senority benefits over existing or new hire 9E or XJ guys after SLI? By what means are you using to measure the pay rates being significantly different? I think thats a little bit of a reach. I wouldn't come into this with that mind set, this is a regional. If we were talking heavies and 73's then maybe. Do you really think these seat locks are going to be enforced when the flood gates open? 9E had seat locks with the ATL 900 flying, see how long that lasted? When the majors start soaking up regional pilots you can say goodbye to any seat locks. They will be scrambling to fill the vacancies. Who knows, you may be lucky enough to pick up displacement beny's out of the deal. One more thing, a question really. When/if the contract is ratified and CORP wants to start moving the 900's to the 9E ticket, how do they expect XJ guys to be able to fly the 9E way without some sort of training event? Has this been talked about at all? I don't think the FAA would be too excited if XJ pilots transfered over and the next day started flying with 9E. Am I correct in assuming that some sort of training event will be required for XJ guys, and I guess the same goes for Colgan going to XJ. Anyone think of that? If we think the staffing is horrid now, how will we staff when guys are in training? IMO, these 95 block and 10 day off (im sorry 11 as of the 18th) are going to continue for the forseeable future.

I'm not sure how it is on the 9e side but 9l is already bringing its training department in-line with xj's training. They basically have been slowly updating our procedures and manuals to have them match mesaba's. Once the integration takes place then we will more than likely just get any necessary training at recurrent.

I do believe that the original poster was correct in his assumption that people at Colgan will want to jump ship to 9e's side and this can keep people on reserve for a long time. For me, its less about the pay and more about the base which is true for a lot of people (the pay is a huge bonus though). I grew up 15 minutes from DTW so where do you think I would prefer to be: IAD (where the cost of living is ten times higher) or where I call home?

If its true that you will only be able to move between certificates once like everyone thinks will happen, I can't see too many 9e fo's willing to transfer over to the props and not be able to transfer back.

I don't believe it will be larger than 25% of pilots at 9e that would want to move though. It is something for a new hire to consider as there have been several hundred pilots that will be on the list of above them (9e and 9l combined) that were just hired after July.

Unless something comes out in the SLI or I missed some funky wording, there's nothing in the TA that will force people to only be able to hop certificates once. Kinda hurts management, really. If the CRJ-200 starts taking a hit in the staffing department and there are guys on the Saab or Q that want to bid over there but can't because they jumped to the Mesaba cert in the past, it's less flexibility. One of the key points that management kept harping on was flexibility for them to move things around. There's also a clause in the TA that says they can waive the seat lock provision as necessary. If things get tight on staffing on one airframe while they're overstaffed on another, they'll relax them. Then if no one bids the vacancy, they'll displace. Seems to be their latest MO around here....

From what I heard, the 11 days off minimum will not take effect till September if the JCBA passes.

You are correct. Its in lOA 2, you get 1 comp day for every month if you have 10 days off which you can be used after Sep 1. You also get a 82 hour gurantee.

So another example where we at Mesaba get basically nothing but 5 more years of our concessions in this contract? I really only see one gem in this contract and that's leg by leg guarantee, which as a reserve does me no good at all. Everything else is basically status quo or worse for Mesaba. ( no idea about the much bragged about healthcare as I haven't used the crap we have since I got married before the bankruptcy)

by status quo do you mean for furloughs, planes being parked, and the potential for the jets to move to pinnacle inc anyway, etc etc. mesaba has a lot to gain by this contract passing also. maybe you dont care but the hundreds of pilots on the furlough chop block do.

What chop block? Just saw on XJ's website they are hiring.

Anyone hired after 2/18/11 just goes to the bottom of the SLI list. For seniority purposes it doesnt matter what company they get hired into. If they want to try and fly a jet, go to 9E. If the turbo props suit you, go to 9L or XJ. If someone had a crystal ball, they might be able to tell where the quickest upgrades will be and that could influence your decision because of the freeze's, but I can tell you one thing, you will never upgrade before M.A at 9E. That guy will literally eat pig dung to upgrade.

the one lots of mesaba people are still on. the company is planning on this ta passing. If they weren't they would just recall the furloughed pilots instead of hiring more. They are hiring more, waiting for the ta to pass, and then will send out the recall letters and continue to hire.