Pinnacle vs Mesaba MSP
 

Whats the difference between Pinnacle and Mesaba out of MSP. Aren't they both operated as Northwest Airlink?
-Confused :confused:

Yes, they are. Mesaba operates the CRJ-900, CRJ-200 and Saab 340 out of MSP and Pinnacle operates just the CRJ-200. Mesaba is wholly owned by Northwest, Pinnacle isn't. There are other differences between the two companies that I don't care to get into, but from an operating perspective at MSP for NWA, they essentially operate in an identical manner.

yeah and some genius came up with the bright idea of having mesaba (the competition) handle all of our ground operations... so if you ever see a pinnacle 200 sitting in the alley waiting to be parked you know why.. :)

Or blocking "Q" in MSP

You are getting paid when you are sitting in the alley, so I know it isn't too hard to take :D

hehehehe,, true true... its just tough when you can smell the quiznos cooking and you are starving (and yes i am sick of quiznos, except for the chicken carbanara, in msp and bbq in mem) BUT THERE IS GOOD NEWS!!! A POPEYES IS OPENING UP IN MEM IN THE A TERM!!! WOOT WOOT,, GET THAT SPICY CHICKEN AND THE BEANS AND RICE!!!

1st year FO, Pinnacle $21 Mesaba $24
2nd year FO, Pinnacle $24 Mesaba $28
3rd year CA, Pinnacle $59 Mesaba $46

Having a wife that makes a good living...Priceless

Come on now, I go to 9E stations that treat us like step children (i.e. ATW).

3rd year CA: PCL $59 Mesaba $59 (Jet) $46 (Saab)

Mesaba Jet CA pay is pretty much the same as PCL Jet CA pay CR9 pay varies between about $3.50 - $6 dollars higher (for now, but the percentage raises coming in 08 and later will improve that).

Now, we haven't quite (yet) made it to 3rd year jet captains yet. The Saab is more likely. However, who knows what'll happen in 3 months, much less a year....

Last I knew, Mesaba turned down the 200's for staffing issues.

Not turned down but deferred it until November I believe.

Mesaba just installed a CRJ 200 Sim in Eagan, and will take delivery of 2 a month starting next month (November). All 17 are currently slated for MSP.

hey just a question, i heard from mesaba guys that the sim actaully belongs to panam academy.. will you guys have first rights to it, kinda like us with flight safety in mem?

As far as I have heard (from the training department) is that we have outright purchased the sim. There is a break even point that I cant remember, but it something like crews for the amount of 31 aircraft. I suppose they are planning on maybe training 900 guys for difference training. As far as the waiting in the alley because the ground guys are Xj, remember they are rampies, aka, they would give a s888 what airline is next in line.

Exactly. I WISH the rampies were organized enough to give priorities like you say.

yeah, i just talked to my buddy over there and he says that panam bought the sim and that you guys bought first rights to it ( kinda like the same deal we have in mem with flight safety). he said ofcourse you guys would be using it almost 24 hours a day while the planes were coming back on line but that once the big rush is over then panam can use it for their own business.

as far as the rampers you are right, but it still doesn't make sense to me.. of course they are going to take care of their own first, and then the others. if a mesaba plane was pushed or parked late i am sure the ramp sups know all about it, we have to send a report to our ops, and then 2 days later base manager finally gets it and then nothing changes.. ever time we pull in its like clock work for us.. we get to the circle, are allowed to taxi in, get infront of the gate, and then about 15 min later we see them stroll out of the break room juggling their wands and having a good time... the only time i have seen a notable improvement is the week nwa gave us the ramp quality assurance forms to fill out.. it asked everything from how long have we been waiting to be pushed or parked, where did the rampers come from, and the choices where: another plane or the break room....hahahaha, i mean even nwa was sick of the delays we were getting... i have never seen the rampers move as fast as i did that week we were turning those forms in.

Good, take them because we can't staff them. I don't know how we are going to staff our 900s. My guess is that they will over staff the 900s so that Delta doesn't get p#$sed off at us. Northwest already knows we can't staff all of the 200s

I heard the other day that the 200s we are getting are going to have a first class in them, any truth to that rumor?

good ole doug was in msp looking at our 200's and they had one configured for first class... supposedly they were going to change the entire fleet to have a first class in the 200's. that would solve a lot of weight and balance problems.. but that was a year or so ago, i had totally forgoten about it.

Been there, done that. Everyone experiences the same sh*tty ramp service, that's all I'm saying.

Yeah, they had a big set up in the Charlie concourse for elite Px's to check out. Haven't heard anything about it since, so I'm guessing it didn't float.

The schedule you can download from NWA.com shows XJ having first class in the 200 as well as the 900. hmmmmmmmmm

First Class is the first two seats in the aircraft, seperated by a door and comes with an "on demand" fa service.

And first class in the Saab even includes FREE seat vibra-massage.

I thought that was the toilet flushing?