Not to mention the fact that I would bet that Rome is one of the, if not the most senior trips they have.

Half a sentence wasted.

My question to you is how many of those top 517 pilots will retire in the 5 years following 2012? If their list is anything like CAL, AA, UAL or the old NWA (DAL bought out many of their older pilots), there will be a quite large number of baby boomers retiring very soon (often upwards of 20% of the respective seniority lists), at which point all those senior slots will be vacated and filled in by a larger proportion of West guys.

I'm sure I don't have all the facts you do, but I'm also pretty sure that I'm more objective about what I do know based solely on my apathy to the outcome. Both sides of this merger are so emotionally charged that I don't think you could make both sides happy simultaneously, just on principle!

I absolutely have no dog in this fight. The only conclusions I can draw come from impartial courts and arbitrators (at least they are supposed to be) who seem to continually side with the West guys.

At the risk of wasting more bandwidth (hey, that's what it's there for) I would like to weigh in as well.

The problem with this USAPA release is not that they are trying to hold on to a base. That is understandable, if misguided. The problem is that USAPA has no credibility with half the operation and, most importantly, they have zero credibility with management. When union president Cleary came out to PHX last month for a meeting with the (few) members out here he tried to get a face to face with Doug Parker and Parker refused to meet with him. It is no secret that management will not talk with USAPA unless it is to argue a grievance or through the diciplinary process. No negotiation progress, nothing accomplished in any way, shape or form that would benefit either pilot group.

LAS is being closed as a base. We are not happy about it because it is the result of the draw down of our LAS operation (you're welcome, Allegient and SWA) but we understand the reason. Our costs have gone up 50% since the merger and places we could make money as AWA we can't as US Airways. Our biggest beef with LAS closing is that the company is violating our contract by not having a displacement bid for the base closure. The union is not going to work very hard on a West contract violation, they are going to go protest a management decision that actually makes sense.

Go figure.

Only an America West pilot would think a 4 year deal with 3% raise (total) is 'industry standard'.

From this pilot who is on the outside looking in, USAPA appears to have been a failure on every front. That said, aren't you guys coming up on the two year point that you can vote someone else.... anyone else.... in?

Is there a move afoot yet for that?

The thing is that every active AAA pilot on the list also moved up 517 numbers before they got ratioed in by comparable category and status.

Regardless, it really doesn't matter, the process for achieving an integrated list was agreed to by both sides and it was ultimately submitted to a final and binding arbitration process. It's long past time for the east pilots to honor their commitment and accept the list and move on.

Sooner or later a federal judge will shove that list down the east pilots throats and there won't be a damn thing they can do about. Hopefully they will learn to move on.

It is not the union name which makes the union, it is the character of the pilot group. In LCC's case, you have a collection of individuals who feel they came up short and are trying to rewrite arbitration law. Regardless of where you sit on the fairness meter regarding Nicolau, you cannot ignore the fact one side started down this path and sucked the smaller group with it, attempting a cramdown. They got caught by a federal judge, but their character will probably not change, at least not any time soon. That is the essence of the problem.