That’s the most illogical statement. But whatever floats your conspiracy theory. Keep on getting your news from Facebook.

Theres a reason we have failed so badly. We believe a conspiracy nut more than science, good job.

 

There are a lot of reasons Regional’s are cheaper, but that is not one of them. Although united is not directly responsible for any of those things, they certainly pay the bills. There’s no way to have anyone operate a fleet of hundreds of airplanes exclusively for you without paying them enough to pay all those bills.

The savings come in paying all your labor (cabin and ground crew) lower wages with more favorable work rules

 

Which started when we started calling conspiracy nuts ‘social science.’ When my alma mater started turning out more MSWs than Engineering degrees, I knew we were screwed.

 

Yes it would be better for most civilian pilots. Not good for most ex-mil pilots who would now start on RJ's instead of NBs. Even at mainline, that's going to pay less. And ex-mil is a significant constituency at the majors, they just don't see any need to "solve" the regional problem for the most part.

Also the more senior major pilots don't view regionals as a career progression threat, they view them as a cost savings which contributes directly to their own profit sharing.

So the sympathetic population at the majors is maybe the bottom 70%, excluding ex-mil. So less than 50% total.

It's mainly labor outsourcing and whipsawing. They pay the other costs as a pass-through anyway, plus a profit markup. They need some good whipsaw to pay the middle-man his cut and STILL have it cheaper than in-house.

Actually yes they totally are. They sold the ticket and selected the outsourced provider, so the courts will not give them any sort of liability immunity whatsoever. In the case of small regionals with poor finances, the major partner might be the only really deep pockets to go after anyway. A total hull loss/total fatality accident is going to run $1-2B or more.

The advantage regionals provide vis-a-vis liability is while mainline doesn't normally want pax to even realize they're flying on somebody else's plane, in the event of an accident the major partner will suddenly and publicly start referring to the offending regional by name, to deflect damage to THEIR brand. They'll typically get rid of the regional in question (or at least merge, rename, etc). But they're still going to have to write the checks to settle the lawsuits, just as quietly as possible. Another occupational hazard to being a regional lifer at a small regional is that one accident could get your employer liquidated with little notice (FFD contracts have an escape clause for safety issues, and a big accident would trigger that if the major so desired). A jumbo regional could probably get away with one accident. Not sure about two in a close time frame.

 

Thats not true. With the Colgate crash CAL was sued. The cases ended after mediation but no court has ever said UAL, DAL, or AA would not be liable for a crash at a regional.

 

My business law might be fuzzy but if the company is a LLP or subsidiary the parent/partner cant be sued. Im sure that still stands. I thought thats what was the business model for regionals and WOs. If not, what type of business agreement is it? That might be where my disconnect is.

 

Perhaps because airlines are tightly regulated in certain business practices.

Regionals are always (mandatory per FAA or DOT) "DBA Brand X Express". It's painted on the side of every single RJ.

I think since they are DBA and Brand X actually owns "Brand X Express" that might be your tie. Basically the government doesn't let airlines outsource liability, for very good reason... they wanted them to have some vested interest in the safety performance of their subs.

 

Lawyers will always go after the biggest bank account. The argument would be Continental did not take appropriate over sight of product they sold. For instance if a hospital hires outside Drs and they mess up the hospital is still liable.

 

Anyone and anything can be sued.

Courts finding the person or thing liable and thus responsible for paying damages is another thing.

 

Good point. And instead of paying lawyers for years of bad press and fees. Its probably easier to settle.