Quote:
Originally Posted by threeighteen
Well, you've been out here saying a lot of incorrect stuff like ALPA didn't agree to a contract out of bankruptcy that allowed non seniority-list pilots to fly United-branded flights and that millennials were toddlers during 9/11 despite that being impossible. So naturally I assumed you were hired post bankruptcy since you thought the regionals came about from a bankruptcy instead of an agreement ALPA made with management while not under duress.
Regionals were more an inadvertent happening when the majors moved on to the jet age. Focused on the Jets, many little airlines would start up to serve small towns to bring them into the hubs with cost effective props. Eventually the mainline carriers wanted more control to coordinate so they began buying up the regionals and rebranding them as express/connection carriers. Then came the invent of the RJ and people wanted a quicker, smoother experience to get from College Station to Dallas, so the regionals largely switched from props to small jets.
Then ALPA took notice and the debate began, LONG AGO, do we move to try and force them into the majors, or keep them separate. There were lawsuits, threats, scope negotiations, mergers, BK's etc. Nothing happened overnight with one grand bargain.
I know it's hard to believe, but it was once so hard to get started as a commercial pilot, there were pilots who would sign for training bonds at their RJ companies that had to be paid back if they left. There were even instances where pilots paid to get trained for a job up front. There were RJ pilots who could qualify for food stamps even though working full time. When there is more labor than work, things can get ugly pretty quick.
The world didn't start yesterday, and it won't end tomorrow. Best we can do now is make it better for those who follow and preserve the quality of the job as much as possible.
Without cabotage laws, the US airline industry would have gone to cr%p long ago as every airline in the world would love to have a piece of the US domestic market and our companies would be more than obliged to help them.