To quote the Karrass School of Negotiations . . . "you don't get what you deserve - you get what you negotiate."

That's true in all facets of life, Brody.

But the problem is we work for a crook. He stole from his clients while a stockbroker. He mastered the shell game of moving money around to pad his pockets at the expense of others. Then he took these newly-developed skills into the airline industry courtesy of Virgin Express and later, Continental Express. And today, as a result, we have his traveling freak show of aviation horrors, aka Mesa Airlines.

He stole from others before coming to Mesa. He has done it to us here with impunity in the past, continues to do it today, and will do it in the future. The spots on a leopard never change.

We only argue about hotels here because we have become immunized to the larger problem around us ... aka Stockholm Syndrome.

Oh you Big Mad

and the Union negotiate hotels that they would never want their own daughters to stay in unaccompanied and for the most part unprotected

Just stayed at a fabulous Wyndham on the east coast. The shuttle driver had a folder that was named Endavour Airlines. Asked him who else is staying at this great hotel - well, Republic, and Skywest.

Just a small point....the MAG pilots took a huge contractual hit whe they were able to get rid of Freedom, which started off as a non union alter-ego carrier. They did stand up for the industry in that instance.

Somehow the notion that 'regional pilots are supposed to make less than mainline pilots' has permeated throughout the industry for the past two decades.

You used the word 'stole' - that he stole from others prior to coming to YV. Anyone who takes the time to dig up his past would know he's not dealing in good faith - and probably never will. As regional pilots who can't get hired at mainline carriers, we are having our career earnings stolen from us every day. Someone on this thread tried to explain that the reason we make less than mainline is because of supply and demand.

We ARE the supply. I speak to check airmen regularly who tell me that the talent pool is getting really shallow - REALLY shallow. Meaning, of course, that supply is becoming limited. People and goods have to be moved. As regional pilots, we've lost focus on why we're valuable. Just because we're good at flying jets doesn't make us smart in other areas - like economics. We listen to the wrong voices (ALPA). We assume others are looking out for our best interests.

Does anyone honestly think the CEO's haven't used their resources to infiltrate our unions?

Look around - the evidence is all around us. We've been played. Most of us don't have enough saved for retirement. I've flown with many, many senior captains who tell me they have nothing put away for retirement. These are pilots who are within a few years of 65.

As you say, the debate about hotels is merely a symptom to the much larger problem. Legacies are saving a king's ransom by paying us Starbucks wages to fly their passengers.

Don't look now, but they're getting away with it - and we're letting them

Very well said.

a large group of Mesa pilot never applied for Mesa just wound up there through acquisitions and didn't want our families to go without while we hunted for jobs when no one was hiring

Yes, and Mesa has a longer history of being based in CLT than PSA because of that.