I've been sitting in bars in South Beach with a shirt that reads "will fly ANYTHING, for cash" I just wish it was the 80's, back when it was easier to find that type of work

 

Irrelevant,

There is no doubt where true responsiblity lies for the mess at Comair. Delta's previous shareholders paid $2 billion for an asset that Delta has let sit and rot like the "dreaded" 50 seater airplane.

The perception that the union didn't do enough stems from a couple of points in my view.

1) The flight attendants had/have part time lines, and voluntary furloughs before involuntary furloughs occured. I don't know if our union could have prevented anything. I do think they went off a false pretense that the furloughs were only going to be 90 days......that came straight from Mr. Glamour Shot himself.

2) Many of us (myself included) don't understand the process of a grievance. Maestro went in without ALPA sign off. So now the union communication states this wont see an arbitrator until October. Who is going to left at this airline by then? What happens if the arbitrator rules in favor of ALPA?

3) Vote of no confidence is DS. I have no idea if this led to anything worth a darn.


One last thing: Since you have been at Comair through good and bad can you please explain to me the whole delta seniority list issue?

I see that Delta has flow back agreements with Compass, and their group is conflicted on whether or not to put Compass on their list. So what happened when Delta bought Comair and ASA? Why would or wouldn't both companies have been put on the list and represented by Delta MEC and have local LECs instead? I'm not saying that this would have been a good or bad thing....I simply don't understand.

Again, good luck to you and your family. It would've been fun to fly together.

TC

 

It was my understanding that Delta and Comair did not merge the list because we fly different equipment. So now what happens when Delta flows back? Why did nothing happen when Delta added CRJ900's on to their contract payscale. If Delta pilots are going to fly our equipment then we should sue for a merger.

 

Just remember, something as simple as spitting chewing gum on the streets may get you a chance to "audition" for the part of the dancing girl.

 

Technically, according to the SEC filing that states all Comair, Compass, and Mesaba employees are Delta employees; we should be paid the same as Delta employees and rate the same benefits as Delta employees. I bet if ALPA wanted to you could take that SEC filing to court to justify a PID between the DALPA pilots and the wholly owned pilots. DALPA wants scope back, heres there chance! Put some fences up so senior Comair pilots can't bump DL pilots from their equipment or bases. I sure as hell bet the electronic funds sent to my bank account on payday originates from a Delta account! I just can't get payroll or finance to give up that info.

 

I wish I had answers for you, my friend, but I don't. I won't even pretend to. I will share some of my thoughts though.

There was a tremendous concern about implementation of Maestro from those of us who witnessed the embarrassment of the Christmas meltdown of 2004 firsthand. Without a fully tested, robust crew tracking system this airline will fall apart very quickly and none of us will be employed. Many here have seen that, and I can share some personal experiences about those few days that ultimately led to the shutdown of the entire airline for a week. Was Maestro as high a priority as pending furloughs? I guess it depends on what the ultimate outcome is. We've not had a total breakdown of the system to date, though there have been a number of operational issues as a result of the rushed implementation.

There is never just one issue we as a pilot group and a union can focus on to the exclusion of other issues. Maestro was an issue, in large part because of the contract violation. If the union chooses to overlook one contract violation, the company will be more likely to violate another agreement they made. You've been here long enough to have experienced a number of contract violations. Remember how long it took to get the company to provide a consolidated, printed version of the bankruptcy agreement that they agreed to provide?

What happens with the Maestro grievance? I don't know, or have a guess. I would like to see the union distribute by e-mail the outcome of every grievance they file. Many of our pilots don't know they're entitled to extra days off to compensate for certain contractural violations when grievances are heard. The company benefits from this lack of this information.

Flight Attendants in many cases are not the primary income earners in their household. This is often the opposite case with pilots. Personally, I'd love a part time program...though if the company would just staff the airline correctly and I could drop a few trips every month we'd accomplish the same goal. The company will likely look to degrade or strip away health care and 401(k) benefits away from those who are part time. Additionally part time positions would probably be bid for on seniority basis, and I'd hate to see our most junior, already underpaid First Officers trying to figure out how to live on thirty or forty hours of pay each month. I know some will say it beats a furlough, and in many ways it would, but most here will agree that the company has a history of abusing agreements, and as Comair at the time was Delta's only "reserve" airline it was pretty obvious to most that they just wanted the flexibility to further negatively impact the quality of life of pilots employed by Comair. Look at what they did with flex line values...effectively giving the entire pilot group a ten percent pay cut during the slow months while retaining the ability to ramp up the operation with just a telephone call from Atlanta.

The DS no confidence vote may or may not have played a role in last year's president's departure. DS is a survivor. I have no thoughts beyond that as most of the DS issue is something beyond my area of concern.

When Delta bought Comair and ASA a seniority list integration request was pursued by the union at Comair. I don't know what happened from the ASA side. Delta pilots, being of superior qualifications and, without a doubt, superior human beings overall, were not interested in bringing Comair and ASA pilots aboard. Some of this is understandable to a degree...a number of Comair pilots don't have a college degree, something pretty much mandatory to get one's foot in the door at Delta. Senior Comair pilots, in many cases, wanted either a date of hire integration, or some other credit for their years of service...again I can understand that perspective as well. In any event, without the support of the pilot group at DAL and Delta management, it wasn't going to happen.

I can't offer anything of value at present regarding DL seniority, Compass, flowthrough, impending furloughs at either mainline or any Delta Connection branded carrier. My attention has been focused elsewhere for the last five years.

When Comair lost the first "Request for Proposal" in 2003, I began the process of reducing my dependence on, and contribution to, Comair. The best way I know to maintain sanity while still participating in Delta's circus is to invest as little as possible in the performance, and focus instead on my family's financial security by ensuring I am developing skills, abilities, and investments outside the aviation industry.

Management at Delta/Comair is either:

1. Incompetent

2. Lacking vision and talent

3. Vindictive

or a combination thereof.

Regardless of which of the above is correct, none of us, current or furloughed employees of Comair, can afford to put ourselves in a position of dependence on the ringmaster in Atlanta.

 

Currently studying this jumpsuit for ideas.......
YouTube - Weird Al Yankovic-Fat



................waiting for the jokes about the Comair F/A's to begin in 3,2,1

 

Your equipment? That's the funny thing about not owning the gold...

 

You're right. All our aircraft (regional and mainline) belong to Republic. It's just not official yet.

 

When looking at the stand by list on travel net, there is no way to tell who is a Delta passrider and who is an Other Passrider. So is it basically impossible now to look at the loads and determine what you chances are of getting on a flight? Basically a 2007 Delta guy will get on before a 15 year Comair guy right? There's just no way to tell who is who.