Johnso,

I see two issues with Comair shutting down.

1st, if all the above proves to be true AND Delta starts hiring Then I would say the TA as painful as it is right now on Comair is at least going to do some good in the long run.

2nd is this whole debacle of 1st year pay. There are over 300 pilots with more than 20 years experience as an airline pilot who won't be able to go to another regional without starting over at year one.

Not that you and I will solve this problem, but can you think of any other industry that ties you to your company as bad as the airlines?

TC

 

Harmless factoid you won't find in next month's Delta SKY magazine:

Average hire date of Comair 70-seat Captain... January 1988 (24 years 9 months average seniority).

GoJetsss begins operations... October, 2005.

 

Is that any difterent then anyother industries in the USA that has shut its doors? Look at the textile business as the example. We outsource all the jobs overseas.

 

Well then, we have nobody to blame but ourselves when a bad stitch in a pair of Nikes causes 60 people to die.

 

The difference bring that the 6 year old sewing the Nikes has no skin in the game. We, on the other hand, are also on that plane full of people. We have some additional incentives to get it right.

I'm not saying we aren't worth more than we are presently paid, but to think we are on par with a $500k brain surgeon ain't right. At least not until we are flying pax via UAV controls with little other incentive. Kinda twisted ain't it.

 

I was referring to your comment about the 24year captains losing there jobs. It is business. It happens everyday in the US. What makes that any different than the normal person?

 

People don't care if the guy making their fries or cutting their grass is 17 or 37 years old, but people overwhelmingly like their surgeons, attorneys, grandpas, presidents, and airline pilots to have a little gray hair.

Yes, it is business.

 

I've been saying for years that we should do away with longevity. The only pay scale that should exist is the max. I don't think it's fair a new hire will make half what I make to fly the exact same equipment. Every single captain at the major airilnes is at max pay. The first officer scale is the only one that needs fixed. No national seniority list, no change to anything else seniority wise, and we can start over without taking a huge pay hit. We would just take a bidding, vacation, etc. hit. I don't understand why longevity raises are so important to pilots. At my airline over 80 percent of the airline is maxed out anyhow.

 

Yep they do. Had friends at comair that bailed early. They say the writing on the wall. Don't ever get comfortable at an contract carrier. I almost did back in the 90's. Thank goodness never did the regional/commuter gig.

 

The Comair and ASA pilots were offered a deal that would have made them very comfortable. JC took it upon himself to decline the offer made by Delta management and Dalpa and it never saw the light of day. Dalpa took the steps to pitch the offer to Delta management after the purchase and it was accepted by management. JC at Comair killed the deal. \

It would have given each ASA and Comair pilot a seniority number at Delta running concurrently to Delta new hires when they checked out as a RJ Captain after a administrative interview to make sure they met all Delta basic requirements. (no criminal record, DUI's ect.). They would then have to fly 3 years as a RJ Captain. At that point they would then transfer to the mainline with the seniority number acquired 3 years earlier. JC turned it down as a insult since he would go behind existing FE's at Delta. The rest is as they say history!