No need to go Jay. Understanding this debacle that had gone on for years is difficult when not everyone has all of the facts.

It was unrealistic for CMR to think that the DL furloughed pilots should have to give up their SN #s. Equally unrealistic for DL to think that CMR should swallow a $20k training cost for a pilot who is going to leave in a few months. Sad that both sides have people that just won't let go. The CMR guys and gals were sadly faulted for the actions of a MGMT and 2 Union leaders. I was hired less than a month before JC wrote that letter, but I was constantly questioned and hammered on my commutes. Most of the time, it was only the flight time before I had both DL pilots in the completely the opposite opinion of me from when I got on board and asked for a ride. ( I used the Jedi mind trick) Sometimes it was more severe, as is the case for the one of the two DL FO's on the ramp retrieving our bags, who thought his point would be made if he poked his finger into my chest. A great majority of the DL guys and gals were great! I was always considerate and ASKED for a ride, never assuming it was a given. I was never denied.

The only really bad experience was on a DL 767 flt from MCO to ATL. Prior to TOD, the CA had to use the loo, and told me to sit in his seat. I said no more than once until he snapped and yelled at me. So I sat in his seat and just enjoyed the view outside. When he came back, I started to move and he put his hand up and took a seat on the jumpseat. Approaching 10k, I am getting very uneasy when he finally decides to take his seat back. As we trade seats he says "I just thought you should try out the seat since it will be the only time you ever see the left seat of a 767". Yep, zero exaggeration on my part. Years later having chatted with a DL Chief, I learned that I had I been anywhere near the type of person he obviously was, I could have reported him and it would probably have stopped just short of him losing his job, but maybe that too. I wish I had written his name down. After a few minutes of walking through the ATL terminal, I was no longer upset or angry. I just chalked it up to his sad life and the fact that his wife was cheating on him every time he went to work.

I don't, or won't fly on DL anymore, but it is strictly because of the MGMT. JB earned my business treating me like gold as a commuter for years to JFK. It may amount to a bit less than a 1k a year in tickets sales, but that is 1k DL MGMT will not see from me ever. I would rent a car first.

The airline industry is very much like the current state of U.S. Government. The pilots NEED to understand that they, and their unions, run the aviation industry, not MGMT. When all stand together, the suits lose. They can lose little, or in the case of the CMR strike, they can lose big. Do you know how much LESS the life of the CMR contract would have cost than the strike?? It was substantially less, as in tens of millions. I was hired far after the strike, btw.

I have also moved to greener pastures, and I should probably thank DL MGMT for that part at least. Things are far better on this side of the planet than they were in the U.S.

Clear skies and smooth flight to all.

CMR FO/CA/FO 2002-2008

 

A new group has started on Facebook for the folks that worked at Comair. So far, 287 members. Great way to stay in touch

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/106727512751772/ or search "we used to work for Comair"

 

I could not say it any better!

 

It's a regional. It was meant to be a revolving door. If a regional is so concerned about pilot attrition, they can try and force a training contract that specifices a duration of staying (12 months, 24 months). Nothing stops that from happening.



Absolutely false. Management and the government run the aviation industry, not pilots or our unions. Not until the day that we have a national seniority list will we ever run the aviation industry. Most pilots are individuals who have self-serving interests, and really no unity for the 'greater' good.

 

By "few" you meant 60+ months. It will be time to let go, but it's hard to forget if your the one furloughed while a subcontractor is hiring like gangbusters says don't look here even at new hire rates, especially when every other regional, including one's not working for DAL seem to have no issue with furloughed pilots.

Best of luck in your new gig.

 

Unity....exactly the problem in the aviation industry and with the U.S. Government and Congress. I know that currently we do not run the aviation industry, nor have any control of either our government or congress. The people have forgotten who is really in charge.
Ask an NRA member about unity. Ask him or her,after congress passed the "assault weapons ban" in 1994, how many of those congressional "Yes" voters had jobs in congress after the next election. None.

I am sure it is, and I would be one of those who would not forget. I was trying to relate it in the context that nobody new how long the furloughs would last. I apologize if I gave you the impression that I agreed with that policy. I did not.

Thank you, as I am loving my new gig.

 

Management and Gov't run it because we allow it by not having a
National Seniority List. Having one is the only way to stop this spiral. They are loving the fact that everyone on here is deciding which low-cost carrier to jump to, chasing the managerial carrot (additional a/c). And don't think this race to the bottom will only affect regional carriers, mainline and cargo will be next, this is only the beginning. So now regional flying goes back to mainline, temporarily, until someone starts another Comair, to go into the markets that cannot be served with the frequency, without connections, that the business traveler demands. That's how Comair became the cash cow that it was. Delta never really wanted in on the regional business, it just didn't want the competition..so they paid 1.8 billion to put an end to it. It's not that the senior Comair pilots are only " thinking of themselves" and not the junior pilots, we put our careers on the line years back for the equality of regional pilots. Not to threaten the career of a mainline pilot or to ask the same wages, only equality on a seat-based scale. Regional flying is here to stay, IMHO it will not be paid at the rates on the TA. We either need to back each other or dog eat dog and let them reap the profits.

 

Nice try but you're never going to convince a majority at every single pilot group that you should be able to slide on over to the airline of your choice with full longevity and seniority. It is never going to happen. There are other ways to build unity and take the sting out of starting over. A NSL is probably the worst and least doable.

 

Whether or not CMR should swallow the training cost is a management decision, it was JC that demanded the resignation of SN#s....and the reason the CMR "guys and gals were faulted for the actions of their union leaders is that they were by and large fully and unabashedly complicit in those actions.

 

It was management that did. The Union had no say in the matter at all. Did he screw up? Yep, and that letter was met with anger on our own end too, but it's not accurate to say that he made that decision.