A group of Jetblue pilots met with organizing reps, lawers, and John Prater today at ALPA HQ. They are the reps of the organizing committee to bring ALPA onto property. Meeting went "very well" and all parties were excited about the results!

Another step in the right direction!

Neelmen must be having a cow right I wonder though if he expected it eventually.

Of course he did. His history is to start an airline, run it for 5-6 years, take the golden parachute and bail out. He did it at Morris and Westjet. Make a profit on the backs of labor and when they organize, get out.

He'll disappear for a couple years and then start up jetRed or jetWhite with the same pattern...non-union labor only this time he'll use Skybus rates.

His business plan is wholly dependent on not having to deal with unions, but I doubt he didn't expect this. Most airlines are unionized, so its a distinct possibility B6 could unionize.

Velocipede: I disagree with your analysis of Neeleman. He did'nt bail out of MorrisAir, SWA bought it out from under him when he was President in '93 (He made $25 million from the stock he owned in Morris). He worshiped SWA, and Kelleher, but didn't fit in at SWA, so left to help with WestJet in Calgary (which did not violate his 5-yr no-compete clause with Kelleher) . Then, the very day his no-compete clause expired in February '99, he started up JetBlue. And he's been there 8 years and counting; it is his baby, and I think he is in it for the long run, union or not.

He's also the kind of guy that will not 'declare war on pilot' for deciding to be represented by a union. He'll embrace the challenge, and find a way to make it work.

Why is Jet Blue called B6?

Its their two letter carrier code.

AA = American Ailrlines
BA = British Airways
AC = Air Canada
DL = Delta
WN = Southwest
HP = Americawest
OO = SkyWest
OH = Comair
YV = Mesa
F9 = Frontier
9K = Cape Air

etc.

Huge turnout I heard............ 14 out of nearly 1800 pilots. All were invited and ALPA was even footing the bill for hotel, transportation and meals....

Not uncommon. Look at the typical MEC meeting at any airline. How many people are actually actively involved at any company? The showing at an exploratory meeting like the one in IAD is no indication of whether or not a unionizing attempt may work or not. Odds are thought that the people that were there will be the ones to spearhead the process (and ultimately become the union leadership if it comes to fruition).

Since you put it that way, it sounds like they had TWICE the turnout of a typical JetBlue Pilot Values Committee meeting.