You bring up a very good point airsupport and I should change the original post of my topic to "those of us that wanted to work for Delta in the long run" I feel I still have an excellent chance at working there even if Compass is stapled, I was just interested to see others opinions.

 

I am one of those who turned down an interview with CZ back in 2007 . I have no regrets. For those sensitive people at CZ what I am about to say does not mean XJ pilots including myself have anything against CZ pilots. In fact I have a very good friend flying for CZ.

Having said that, like someone pointed out earlier, you are all thinking things posted on this forum as if they are legitimate business plans coming from DAL top management. No they are not. Junior NWA/DAL pilots and CZ pilots want this stapling to happen, not the DALPA nor the DAL management. Who has the final decision making power in a situation such as this? From previous history, DAL top management has the sole authority and we have never seen DAL top management do ANYTHING just because some pilots on an internet forum wants to do it.

Two scenarios I can think of is one, if DAL wants to staple CZ pilots what would be the benefit to DAL management? One benefit I can think of is that having ran all the possible numbers over various scenarios, DAL may agree to this in return for a heavy price from the NWA/DAL pilot group.
One such demand will be in return, DAL management will have the right to add more CRJ900s to Mesaba and other DCI carriers as they see fit. Second might be a creation of B rates, a second tier of lower payrates and different work rules because I just do not see in anyway DAL beancounters agreeing to this unless these consessions are made. Also, the writings are on the wall that if the load factor does not come up this summer, DAL will most likely have to furlough junior pilots in the hundreds if not thousands for many years unless the economy comes back up, and all the economists are saying 2009 will be worse than 2008 and it will be at least 4 to 7 years for a full recovery. This means there is a potential for DAL junior pilots and every stapled CZ pilots to be furloughed for at least 7 years or longer with ever changing airline industry picture in the domestic market. There may not be any jobs to return because DAL may decide to just reduce the number of jobs period. Just look at ther latest trend in DAL move. They are cutting back drastically in nonpilot jobs, and establishing RHS. I think this the beginning of more things to come.

Second scenario that everyone seems to not want to think about and seems to get really offended whenever it is mentioned is that it is ALSO very likely that DAL wants to MERGE Comair with CZ and then spin it off like NWA did with Pinnacle. You say no this will not happen? Just look at the latest move. DALPA wants to divulge CZ from DAL MEC and CZ to be under a separate ALPA MEC just like XJ and Comair. If you were the top management and surround yourself with this countries sharpest beancounters and lawyers and you asked what would bring in more money, what do you think the answers will be? To staple CZ and the headache that goes along with it to please some junior NWA/DAL pilots on this forum or to do the second scenario? Think about that.

 

Lighteningspeed...regarding merging and spinning off...many people bring that up. But the million dollar question is to whom would the combined company be spun off to? If it was that easy, Comair would have been spun off years ago.

 

It's always fun to speculate, but...I worked for Comair for 11 years during the Delta buyout of ASA and Comair and the pilot strike and the truth of the matter is Delta management is going to do whatever floats their boat. All the Comair guys can attest to the "Do it now and grieve it later" comments from management every time you turn around. You don't have to look any farther than the TWA pilots and the USAir pilots to see how list mergers go and those were between two mainline carriers. Why should we think any different that a merger of lists between mainline and the regional networks would ever be advantageous for the regional guys or for that matter that Delta or the union gives a crap about making a regional/regional merger fair?

 

2 things here. DAL would be able to use the 76 seaters to the full capacity. If I'm not mistaken they could be configured to 88 seats and get more revenue out of them. Also if down the road the emb-190 is brought in then you are already set up for it.

The other thing is the cost of a furlough. The longer the furlough the less this matters, but if it's anywhere under 2 years than it gets pretty costly.

It will be a hard sell. But if there is ever a time to try it's now. If this doesn't happen now it will never happen.

 

The 175 seats 76 seats with a first class, 88 in a skybus type config....not going to happen. Second, the training cost is a one time expense, while raising the wages hurts the bottom line. If Delta brings the E190 on board it can use compass training resources since it completely owns compass.

You guys all talk like compass is a competing carrier and needs to be mergered. Why would delta spend millions in attorney's fees to get a merger with compass done when it already owns the company? does that make sense?

This is nothing more than a Mesa type push for a national seniority list, everyone sees the writing on the wall. Compass pilots don't want to loose their jobs, and the delta junior guys don't want to fly at compass if it can be avoided. Who can blame them, I would be doing the same thing if I were junior at delta, or worked at compass.

 

Depends on where you are at now. For me it was a hard choice...I was a Pinnacle Captain, holding a decent line, based in my hometown. I was offered a job at Compass, and decided to take it. Many people called me crazy, but I took the risk and am better off for it.

Why did I make the jump to Compass? Because Pinnacle was a HORRIBLE place to work for, and Compass is better. Yeah, Compass is having a staffing issue right now, but that's the one and only negative thing I can say about them while flying the line. I'm a much happier person at Compass than I was at Pinnacle.

Bottom line is...if I was at Mesaba or somewhere else with a decent reputation, I would not have taken the risk.

 

A really good post. Thanks for your frank assessment. I have a good friend at Compass, with similar situation before he made the jump. He did not get offered a job at XJ even though he met the qualifications.

Compass has great airplanes and overall my impression of Compass guys are with the exception of oine or two, are really good people just trying to survive in this crazy industry just like the rest of us. I really hope it works out for Compass folks. If DAL staples Compass, that would be good in the long run for mainline joib picture hopefully but I doubt Mesaba will ever be brought in like Compass because there are too many senior people at XJ who would object to being stapled.

 

I have read more than once about these staffing issues. What is their strategy as far as hiring? They are collecting resumes but do they have any plans to start interviewing or hiring anytime soon? Im sure they dont have a lack of qualified applicants.

 

I think they are or have already interviewed for a pool. The pilots hope more people are hired in order to give us a break, but there are no plans, that I am aware of, to hire more. I guess the completion factor is satisfactory (good enough!) and the powers that be (in Atlanta) are happy with status quo. On time/completion stats could be improved but there is a cost associated with improvement.