I am not going to leave... I don't know how it will look after the next two rounds... put your big boy pants on and make your own decision.

 

In all seriousness, congratulations on your contract. I was pleasantly surprised that you guys were able to make as much progress as you did.

That said, you are a little premature coming off with a COMAIR-like attitude...a few months ago you guys were barely better than mesa. Also your contract appears to have slightly better CA scales than SKW but nothing earth-shattering. Did you get full pay for deadheads? We'd probably have to get into all the details to really compare apples to apples.

My previous alpa experience leads me to conclude that no regional pilot contract is really enforceable because regional pilots as a group are too ignorant, uneducated, and/or underfunded to beat off the high-power labor law firms employed by management. Alpa national and the majors are not much better off. SKW doesn't ever change the contract without our agreement, rather they "re-interpret" existing language. That has become a common practice throughout the industry and very few pilot contracts are safe from it.

Hopefully everyone is learning and future contracts will contain airtight language, not some random thoughts scribbled on a bar napkin.

As for the OP with his seniority he's probably looking at a long upgrade either way (unless the pilot shortage materializes and he gets hired out of the right seat). I don't see anything about either airline that would make it worth a transcon commute, so if he can live in or near base that's the one I would go with.

If for some reason you're planning on a career at a regional then you have to consider long-term corporate viability. It's a reasonable assumption that the feed industry will take a catastrophic hit in the next 5-15 years due to fuel costs, pilot shortage, congestion/slot limitations, and/or a mainline scope take-back. In that case you want competent stable managers who will not be the first rats off the ship, and loads of cold hard cash.

 

I agree 100% that arguing contracts is pointless. However skywest has no legally binding contract. One list is worth it to me, I feel bad for all of my expressjet friends. For instance, the guy that lives with me is from the west coast and would kill to get back there. The only reason skywest management doesn't want one list is they don't want skywest to raise the pilot costs through a contract. IMHO at least. One list for those guys would be fair.

 

The sad thing is that there are people that actually think this kind of crap.

 

It's not too much different from our old contract but a vast upgrade for the other two companies. No raise and a 75hr reserve guarantee for this guy!

 

This is a broken record. There were, in the end, no seniority grabs due to the fact the list was compiled via arbitration. Now, had your boy JH gotten his way, then yes there would have been a seniority grab....by PCL.


Ah ok, I see what's happening here. You didn't get the grab you wanted, so now everyone around you is the bad guy. Duly noted.

Doesn't matter your merger committee was attempting to hose everyone else. Way I see it, things worked out just fine. Now everyone lost something.....most people are unhappy about some nuance in the contract/ ISL. So, sounds like we did a great job combining our companies.

 

I would like one list too.

 

I was offered an interview at skywest while I was in training at 9E last Sept and don't get me wrong it was tempting, seeing as I grew up in La,

But just remember the grass is not alway greener , these are regionals we are talking about , things do shift quite a lot out of no where , look at go jets getting ASA aircraft !!!! Chuck Norris couldn"t have seen that one coming.

Unless you live in one of there bases I dont see a good enough reason to pull the plug just quite yet. Keep in mind we are still loosing people. I flew with a few captains last month who are hired by Fedex, just waiting on class dates, as of now they want to hire 500 and have only hired 88 , ( as of 15 days ago) you know with the good old guys club in Memphis we will loose a lot more to them. We have what some 190 mesaba flow through to delta when ever they may hire next for those who take it, Plus I jut spoke with a friend ground instructor 4 days ago in memphis and he said 9 E is hiring 18 every two weeks . So you ll even have more coming under neath you.

No one has the crystal ball roll your dice and pray that you made the right call.

Good luck which ever you choose .

 

I'd have to count to make sure, but I think there only about 80 guys that will flow to Delta from XJ now.

 

I'm not at pncl. I'm watching from the outside in and what I see is the pncl pilots getting screwed especially since they were the acquiring airline. Also colgan didn't bring much to the table and mesaba was shrinking. I would be livid if I was at pncl.