Good luck with that. That is what is holding up the TSA contract negotiations. On a serious note...UAL/CAL pilots flying 145's and 200's? You kiddin? So are they gonna do that at regional wages? Or are they gonna do that on a mainline pay scale..that oughta do wonders for the labor cost structure...maybe we can get smoking back in planes too.

Thanks for the well wishes but it will take more than luck to make this happen.

"We understand how hard it is to put that genie back in the bottle, but we're going to try," Pierce said. "We see it as a better solution for all concerned when legacy carriers do their own flying, not just to protect jobs, but also to ensure safety."

Whatever they negotiate for them to get them to be flown by pilots on the UAL/CAL seniority list. Regional wages would be a start. After all, we have pilots doing that already.

don't get me wrong. im all for it but you think youre gonna pay a 15 year captain at UAL/CAL makin a buck forty a year or thereabouts to fly an embraer for fiddy thou a year?http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/daily...pigs%20fly.jpg

While I really doubt UA guys will be willing to fly any airplane for regional wages I do think that getting scope back is worth taking a hit on pay. Once the planes are back at mainline, pay can always come up later, but at least they will be able to come back. The current situation with the regionals will never, ever bring decent pay to those airplanes. That's the whole idea of contract lift. Mainline will have a much easier time getting higher pay over the long term, even if it means flying for regional wages in the short term. Not saying they should sink that low but I would hope we can at least consider it as a strategic move to get those planes back where they belong.

Do you think many of the pilots that currently fly them would fly them at the same rate but instead be on the UAL/CAL seniority list? What's the difference? But hey, its impossible to put a man on the moon.

That's a valid point. BUT...I'm assuming those additional planes would be flown by people already on the United/Continental list. You could use the argument that those would be furloughed recalls and theyd be happy to have "a" job back but it would regardless result in alot of people taking serious paycuts. I do agree that it belongs at the mainline but what makes the difference who does the flying as long as the crew is makin $50k and $18k? Airlines are looking to cut costs and increasing pay isn't gonna do that. I can't imagine them keeping that scope language that would completely eliminate several regionals from existance.

I'd say it makes a big difference who flies them for 50K a year. At a regional you have to start over again at the bottom when you get hired at mainline. Another thing is the regional (under)staffing and other QOL issues that will make for a much better life of the pilots in terms other than pay.

At mainline you may make 50K to fly the RJ but you are already at mainline and just get to sit back and build seniority and retire. Then you get the mainline staffing levels trip/duty rigs, etc. It would be much better to have RJs at mainline even if the pay rates stayed low for a little while.

They will need a lot more than the 1500 pilots on furlough. Anyways, RJ captains and FOs are making more than $50k and $18k. It can be done in a cost competive way. For example, if CAL pilots would to fly XJTs ERJs at the payrates that XJT pilots currently get but with CALs work rules, the crew costs would be lower!

Part of me thinks that once CAL & UAL merge, there will be another 1,000 furloughed pilots available for RJ employment. Maybe ALPA will be so nice as to get us preferential hiring, just like they did at CAL (pref hiring at Colgan to fly our outsourced routes). Maybe we'll flood the market with experienced pilots and finally shut down all those pilot factories! The pilot shortage is just around the corner... if only CAL and UAL wouldn't have merged it would be here by now.

OK, sarcasm machine turned off... for now!

Bingo. It would also suck for the military guys who are coming off of an effective $150K salary, but oh well...that needs to stop being a criteria for the scoping of flying.