BigZ

At MQ there's the official seniority list, the ALPA seniority list, the DECS seniority number - and not only these three are NEVER EVER even remotely close to each other, whenever a vacancy bid award posts, the seniority number there is neither of those three lists. Kinda sorta close to the ALPA list, but not really. And I dont mean that the lists are a dozen numbers away from each other. Hundreds at times. You can be like 500 on one, 700 hundred on the other and DECS seniority 1100.

But speaking of PDT - did you guys ever get the pay rates/12 days etc, or did it all get tangled up in the LOA?

Cujo665

You eliminate two administrations, and chopping a bunch of ground based jobs. Then the synergies of scale take over. This was predicted long long ago. THe pandemic pushed it back a few years. It will happen again.

rickair7777

But then you defeat the whole purpose: whipsaw and arms length.

Although legacies could consolidate, and even bring regional flying in-house as long as they retain scope allowances... then they could get back to their old tricks when/if the pilot market swings back in their favor.

But it's not just pilots, non-pilot regional labor also comes with a big discount. They might want to keep regionals for that reason alone. They can bribe regional pilots as needed with bonuses or even legacy seniority numbers to prop up the rest of the system.

Cujo665

How's that whole whipsaw thing working for them these days? The old paradigms are gone (for now anyway). Capacity Purchase Agreements and having planes is not the currency currently being used. Pilots are the new currency, and whipsawing doesn't help attract or retain pilots.

As for arms length..... the four airlines are so intertwined that a second year law student could show that the separate companies are appearance only.

Heck, AAG themselves advertise the cradle to grave career move with a single interview your entire career. Discharged or released from one, not hirable at any of the four. Grievance arbitrations at regionals attended by AA HR, not the regional HR. Regional CEO also an Officer of AAG. AAL dictating the exact same bonus and compensation packages at all three supposedly arms length airlines.... The list is endless.

There is no arms length at AAG, very much the opposite; their fingerprints of absolute control are upon everything.

They've already established that they can TDY intercompany. Several Regional managers and even VP's have flowed to AA, then TDY'd back to the regional to continue on their previous job. ICE benefits are back.
They've also established that they can use contract ground services instead of actual same company employees. So, there's nothing preventing them from saying all these 70+ seat RJ's will now be flown by AA pilots on the APA seniority list. Underwing, MX will all remain contracted to Envoy Ground Services or Piedmont Ground Services like they already are. The FA's will have to figure out if it stays separate or becomes the new entry level for anybody with no prior FA experience and on who's seniority list they end up on.

Either way, the elimination of so much quadruplication of services will provide more than enough savings to soak up the small pay increases for the FA's. They can keep one regional for the 50 seat market, or spin it off to compete for the CPA. Either way, AAG wins.