contrails

Pay does not matter. Staple regardless.

Pay can be negotiated later. This is a one-time opportunity to expand mainline by adding a fleet of 36 airplanes.

If Compass pilots were to get furloughed after being stapled then so be it. It would be the same as being furloughed due to flowbacks anyway.

Former Northwest and Delta pilots would be much better off being bumped down to an E-175 on their own airline than flowing back because the work rules would be better, EVEN IF the Compass pay scale was the starting pay scale after a staple.

Management would have more options regarding fleet size changes with the E-175 at mainline. The flowthrough and flowback is very expensive. Backwards it means having mainline guys waiting up to a year or year and a half to get their flowback spot (what do they do during that time, stay at mainline? mainline would already be overstaffed). Going forwards, that is to say, flowing up, it is expensive because one training event is paid for by Delta for the Compass pilot at mainline new-hire class, and one new Compass pilot must be hired to fill that spot. If the E-175 fleet was at mainline, there would not be that double-training-event predicament in times of hiring.

Mainline pilots concerned about hiring standards at Compass should not be overly concerned (though it is a legitimate question).

Compass does perform the same medical that NWA did for new hires.

Compass had all interviewees do a sim evaluation with a former NWA pilot in the sim.

Each interview was comprised of one Compass HR rep and two former NWA pilots.

The first ~180 pilots hired easily would have been competitive for an interview at NWA or Delta. Nearly all of them were captains at other 121 carriers looking to move to MSP/DTW/MEM.

The second half of the list, numbers ~180 to 330 are a mix. Some were FOs at places like Air Wisconsin, ExpressJet, and others that furloughed.

About HALF of the bottom half of the list, that is to say, 25% of the total pilot group, were formerly pilots at ATA, Aloha, SkyWay, Midwest, DHL, and others that went out of business. Not uncommon to have a 20,000 hour ATA 757 captain type of pilot in the last few Compass classes.

The opportunity to staple this fleet to mainline will only come around once, and that time is now.

There are no disadvantages to mainline pilots that I can think of.

The following layovers would increase or return to mainline:
MSO seasonally
FCA
EWR (12+ hours means Manhattan in the JPWA right?)
PHL
BOS
PHX
BIL seasonally
JAX (seems to be a ton of commuters who could constantly have layovers at home again)
YYZ
I could go on and on.

vonerotate

Not at all what I said. There will always be some to make it through the interview...no matter what interview...that don't belong.

They get sorted out in training

80ktsClamp

seamonster seems to be of the angry comair sort.

shadyops

I am a CPZ fo and I support a staple 100 percent. I would take a furlough to make this happen. These airplanes belong to mainline! No more using the term "regional". Pilots are Pilots, and airplanes are complex machines that require high skill to operate safely. Put all the petty differences and bickering aside. Let's do what we have to to make this happen.

nwa757

Compass E175s are owned by Delta Airlines at this point. For the most part, Compass, being a wholly owned subsidiary is simply a division of Delta/NWA. Also.... a division in our union and company. By combining the pilot group, growing the fleet and saving money via certificate streamlining this becomes a win/win/win for all.

In addition to the aforementioned benefits, here are some more:
-increased job security for mainline pilots
-a trend in the right direction aka mainline growing instead of fee for departure economics
-ridding of the BK written Compass contract that is far inferior to the JPWA work rules
-ridding Compass overhead in Chantilly, VA
-improving flight safety by falling under the Delta umbrella
-possibilities for a simple addition of the E190/195 to the program should a DC-9 replacement be needed earlier than forecasted
-removal of expensive training fences
-FA crew resources streamlining

By converting this aircraft to an all coach 86 seat aircraft, this would open a long range modern aircraft to serve markets in between the 76 seat and DC-9/MD-88 markets, and increase competition with US Airways, JetBlue and all others who compete in the 90-110 seat market.

I think this is what Delta management is after, if this truly in the works. It all makes financial sense to me.

TheWagman

Sounds like a great idea! Let's bring it to the mainline!

Vikz09

Obviously The benefits have all been mention by various people. I am one of the first few classes at Compass. I did not have the option of going to NWA because they were not hiring and that was said by multiple resources. The people i knew said the way to NWA was thru Compass. To my surprise once I was already committed and finishing up training in Montreal... Guess what no more furlouged nwa pilots were wiling to come back to a sub-standard NWA contract so Mainline starts hiring. Guess what my friends from my previous regional (where i was a CRJ capt. for 4 years) who couldn't get a initial interview with Compass because they didn't meet the current qualified minimums that once the NWA application opened up went to NWA..

Hows that for apples. Hey can you help me get a interview at Compass. I say sure but it is all computerized once they weed themselves thru the more qualified apps i am sure they will call you then i will find out how to put a letter of Recommendation in for you... Guess what they never got called because they weren't as qualifed as the original 80 at compass. Now NWA opens up there application process and Wham they are now at NWA with the ability to flow down and displace me from my seat. Now that is IRONIC.

But the thing that gets my goat is that I have been paying ALPA dues from Day 1 at compass ( almost 2 years ) to the nwa lec/mec1 and no where did they mention what they are doing to represent me in this merger. Thanks for the taxation without representation NWA ALPA.

johnso29

Very, very true! And so frustrating!

Rotorhead

If this makes you feel any better, NWA hired folks to cover those that didn't return from furlough and also to preserve the summer 2008 flying. Had the 2008 October APA been awarded, all newhires would have been furloughed and some back on furlough from the round prior. There were hardly any military in our newhire classes and most of my peers were relatively very junior RJ or prop captains with approximately 300 to 1,000 hours PIC or so hours. Of course we had some that were also very experienced but lived in one of the bases. It seems NWA clearly targeted certain regionals, those that lived in or near a NWA base and relatively junior Captains elsewhere.

Maybe they felt we were so junior we had nothing to lose by giving NWA a shot for the summer. In training, we all felt like we were just being rammed through to get online before the summer kicked off; almost everyone in my newhire class repeated some portion of training as it was clearly cut to the bones. My last regional spent twice the time covering systems. I have also flown with check airmen who tried to get personal friends interviewed with no luck. I am very gratful that Delta came along, it's a class act company and brings much welcomed change.

acl65pilot

At best that is what you can hope for. DAL simply will not take everyone from a regional. Now CPZ is different as they passes the NWA interview process.