Ooooooooh... that is a very very close race.. but I have to go wih the politician. Nothing scummier than someone that ALWAYS has his hand out for "contributions".

Even airline execs need politicians. (Actually every few years the politicians need them to, so it is a relationship of mutual necessity)

I'm all for smaller government, but some programs should be left to them.

I would vote for you....we need about 10,000 regional pilots with the same realization.

Thirty years ago, mid-80s era senior pilots (most now retired) sold out the new hires in A/B scale agreements to protect their own pay increases. This is where the demise of the profession began. Yes deregulation had a lot to do with it, but greedy pilots who were willing to sell out the junior and new-hire FOs and SOs have as much to blame. Yes, at one time you could make a good living and raise a family as a pilot flying CV-580s or YS-11s, but with the A/B scale greements FOs were starting at $30,000 flying 727s. Which meant guys flying D-7s and Metorliners were starting at $18,000/yr. Today guys flying 90 seaters are starting at $13,000/yr. Those junior pilots that were screwed back then are now today's mainline Captains. They too are struggling to make up for their losses over the years. It's not about seats, its about pay!

Once you get on this highway it's darn hard to find an off-ramp.

I agree 100%. Pilots were already well into negotiating B-scales when de-regulation began. De-regulation merely accelerated the process.

RE-regulation is seen as a panacea for pilots pinning for the "good old days". However, the record of the past 30 years strongly suggests that pilots with the most seniority and biggest unions would merely take a bigger piece of the pie and force down "B" and "C" scales to smaller companies and newer entrants.

It's interesting that no one has mentioned a national seniority list for all 121 pilots as a possible solution. If congress is bent on writing major legislation, why not put everyone on a list. The benefits would be huge, and it would significantly stabilize the industry. Pilots could shop airlines for the one with the best business model. You would no longer be tied to one carrier and have to go back to the bottom if your latest management team turned out to be bozos and ran the company into bankruptcy! Pay would already be set through negotiations based on number of seats and which seat you are sitting in. If one airline goes bankrupt, those displaced pilots would automatically get picked up in seniority order at other remaining carriers as soon as there are openings. Start-up airlines would have to pull from a pool of qualified listed pilots and pay them the going rate, not some substandard, joke benefits rate that drags down the other carriers. If a new carrier wants to succeed, they would have to have a better product, not just cheap first and second year new hire employees. Airline managements would actually have to MANAGE THE PRODUCT instead of simply lowering costs on the backs of their employees all the time. They would compete for customers based on service, not on costs. My understanding is that this almost happened back in the deregulation era and was part of the original legislation, but was removed in committee by anti-labor forces.

Dumbest idea ever

You want the US Gov to figure out a seniority list? Do you trust them to get this right? Have you ever worked for the US Gov?

Ok here are a few things I see wrong with this.

1. Seniority List Integration. Let's say that DAL would pull over 9E, OH, and XJ. Would a mainline guy be upset that a pilot from one of the regionals is now ahead of him in seniority? C'mon. Think about this.

2. You can't stop outsourcing. It's a disease and every company is doing it to cut costs. There is no more customer service, it's all this fake crap we get on the phone when calling FedEx or UPS. The only customer service I get is from BAX and DHL because they haven't outsourced there forwarder desks.

3. I hate hangovers and somebody should fire the guy that invented them.