Ding ding ding!!! We have a winner!!!

 

Hire them, lots of them. Oh you forgot about that.

If AAI bought us, there would still be 400 pilots at Midwest/AAI today.

 

Hired lots of them? A lot of good that did for the remaining 280 Skyway pilots. Thank goodness your training department doesn't have to complain that Skyway people have worn out their welcome's, so to speak...

If AAI had bought YX, there's no gaurantee that ANY of the Big Blue/Li'l Blue pilots would still be employed. With the way that the economy has been and the squeeze that Citrus would've been under, who knows?

Furthermore, weren't the Midwest pilots the group that was telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that an AAI buyout would be bad for MKE? Right... SAVE THE COOKIE!!! Maybe you guys shoulda stood up to Uncle Timmy (even symbolically!) instead of having a Kumbaya-Love-Fest with him?

PEACE!

 

How many pilots at AAI were / are still furloughed? And how many of them would have been YX pilots after a merger? Just spitballin, but suppose AAI had bought Midwest. With them preoccupied by the merger, and having their cash stretched thin, do you really think that Delta wouldn't have gone for the knockout punch and put even more economic pressure on AAI?

Either way, I have a feeling that the Midwest pilots were hosed. And it's your management's fault that the company was put in a position for this to happen. You need to look at the real culprits here, not go tilting at perceived Bogeymen.

 

AAI acquiring Midwest would've ended with AAI declaring bankruptcy.

AAI's CEO has said many times on the record that not getting Midwest was the best possible outcome for AAI.

Perhaps surprisingly, there are a LOT of former Midwest Express (Skyway) pilots at AAI and a vast majority of the FAs hired in the last 6 months are ex-Midwest (mainline).

Most of them tell stories that they are not surprised by the state Midwest is in.

 

Don't really think you can say that. There's a good chance AAI would be BK right now if they bought YX just before the oil spike/economic downturn.

 

The million dollar question among yx pilots is this:

Why did Dalpa/DAL agree to keep the 47% Midwest when they acquired NWA?

Correct me if I'm wrong DL pilots, but wasn't there an agreement in your previous contract that prevented any carrier that was acquired by DAL to have more than 30% ownership in another carrier. So why did they go out of their way and allow the YX 47%. Why not tell NWA to get rid of their Midwest share?

We originally thought that DAL kept us so we could fend off AAI in MKE. At least that made sense. But the condition that our owners (TPG/DAL) have put us in does not make much of a defender of the hometown. AAI is making MKE a priority because it is ripe for the picking. Would you like a 737/717 or a CRJ/EMB flown by out sourced guys that are trying to move up the ladder? We will not continue to win Customer Service awards in this state.

DAL would do just as well to fight AAI in MKE with their own equipment. So why is this operation being fed more money (TPG and Republic in Fall 08) and kept running?

 

I agree... management is the real culprit for Midwests failure.

But why did NWA/Delta pay top dollar for Midwest?

answer: To buy market share and block AirTrans growth.

The big difference is DALPA changed the scope language to cut out the Midwest (ALPA) pilots. Non-legacy carriers (listen up AirTran) better hire separate legal counsel to negotiate your employment contract and pay lower dues to ALPA National.

The Midwest pilots paid MILLIONS to ALPA national and they negotiated (approved) a WEAK SCOPE SECTION!!!

ALPA National is not worth the money


ps, Don't tell me the Midwest pilots understood or would have agreed to a contract without scope protection. ALPA national was paid millions for legal services and the Midwest pilots got taken to the cleaners.

 

Hiring separate legal counsel started years ago. ALPA National needs to reduce dues for national and regional carriers so they can hire a separate legal staff.

I believe ALPAs legal staff is behind the times and has conflicted interests.



US Airways Express Pilots Retain RJDC Attorney

As confidence in ALPA’s ability to fairly represent all its members continues to erode, the Allegheny, PSA, and Piedmont MEC’s join the growing ranks of pilots that have sought to retain independent counsel. As part of their efforts to protect the rights and interests of their pilots, the MEC’s representing US Airway’s wholly-owned subsidiaries have retained Mr. Michael Haber as their counsel. As a labor attorney, Michael Haber is experienced in airline labor law and already represents both ASA and Comair pilots in their efforts to ensure that they are not harmed by ALPA’s predatory bargaining at Delta.

 

ALPA is not worth the money!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! That's really funny. As the Skyway guys were getting "kicked to the curb" weren't the Midwest guys being faithful little ALPA soldiers and having tea parties with SkabWest to convince them to vote in ALPA? So now you're mad because you backed the wrong horse? C'mon, you didn't see this coming? Midwest MX, MKE Ramp... Skyway Flight Crews and NOW YOU. Shoulda made a stand sometime, hey? So I say to you... Karma's a B----, isn't it?