page 90 and 91 were interesting...make sure you guys pay attention to how little, in comparison to overall expenses, labor costs are...and about what they *MIGHT* need to do to retain pilots!! MAYBE you can make this a must!!

STOP ACCEPTING SUBPAR WAGES FOR LARGER PLANES!!! :mad::mad:

I'm pretty sure their ALPA contract stipulates that if there is no rate for a new aircraft, and the company cannot come to an agreement, it will go to arbitration and the rate will be "market average". So thanks to Mesa and Skywest...it's gonna be pretty low. Unfortunately.

The sad thing is, the Pinnacle pilots will upgrade quickly and get out while all of us at "good" regionals that have a union that refuses to take on additional flying at "market" rates will still be around as FO's at the regional level, with no job security...I'm thinking of making the Pinnacle jump myself as a Street CA.

Are they really actively hiring street captains?

If so, and you decide that's what is best for you, best of luck...you're senior to me! :p

For Detroit, I believe so, yes. They can't fill the upgrade classes.

The contract doesn't contain a "market-average" statement, but it does require binding arbitration if an agreement can't be reached within 30 days of the aircraft beginning operations. This is pretty standard for an ALPA contract.

Ah OK, thanks for clarifying. I guess it's anyone's best guess as to what rate he/she will award then! Yikes!

i will take the time to answer all your questions before i head out to pentagon city to get some margaritas at chevys on our 14 hour layover.


Yes, pncl will have a lax, and slc base. which will open first, and how many planes will be at each is still up in the air. if you were getting hired now you probably could get one of the bases but not immediatly. and no, i don't think the flying will go senior, we are a east coast airline, with very few people living near the west coast. i am pretty sure no one wants to commute just to fly the 900's.


as part of the agreement if a deal can't be reached then the arbitrator will decide. this pay rate however will not automatically be rolled into the next contract, and yes we are asking for more in negotiations.

that my friend is the question, we can't even staff the planes we have, we aren't going to lose the 15 planes to mesaba as previously stated, and we are getting 17 900's with a lot more to come,, (delta didn't sign a 10 year agreement with us to only fly 17 planes, in 2 different bases).
i am not expecting the arbitrator pay to be even close to the amount the union is asking for, and i also think that we will get a contract soon. after all nwa finally admitted they made mistakes with the pilot wages and work schedules and have backed off on them considerably. uncle phil will soon follow.


since you obviously know nothing about this pilot group i will just assume you made this statement in complete ignorance. we never accepted a contract to get this flying, we have been in negotiations for a little more than 2 1/2 years. the pilot group did nothing to get this flying, just like we did nothing to lose the 900's that mesaba got. we don't care about more or bigger planes, what we care about is a fair contract. that is what we are fighting for. pncl pilots are one of the only regionals out there that didn't accept a **** poor contract for the promise of more flying, or bigger planes. we didn't when the company was on the verge of losing the nwa flying, and we wont when we finally get the contract we deserve.

pinnacle isn't hiring street captains technically. you would have to get hired as an fo, then put your bid in for captain. now for the reality of it all, if you were to get hired today, and put your bid in for captain, you would have it almost immediatly since even on the last vacancy there were 12 unfilled captain spots. i said in a previous post i met a mesaba guy that has been here 6 months and is a line captain now. he waited at mesaba for 5 years, wasteing his carrer away hopeing that he would some day make captain and get his pic.

not actively hiring street captains, but close enough.

Oh, thats right! I forgot about that industry leading contract you guys accepted a while back that takes a Capt or F/O 7 YEARS to get what he/she could get at many other regionals in year two or three :D...plus all those wonderful work rules you were able to get!

Truth is, you sold your souls years ago for the growth that was going to go to Mesaba...but hey, at least now you are standing up for yourselves....after you got the growth you wanted...

You don't have a clue what you're talking about. For starters, virtually no one is left at Pinnacle that was around back in 2000 when the current agreement was negotiated. No one from that MEC and one member of the NC from that period is still involved. Also, the rates negotiated at that time were industry-average rates. Nobody at Pinnacle "sold their souls" for that growth.

wasn't here at the time. infact, i would say that 10 percent or less of the people that voted for that contract are still here today. everyone regrets it, and we obviously wont be burned twice. it is a different time, and a different place.

after reading some of your post it looks like you work for pinnacle, is that right? if not who do you work for?


this is all a correct statement.