Interesting unconfirmed news. As far as the possible impact on 787 deliveries and fences....the airframes that will take the fence down should already be in production to United specs. My crystal ball says they'll retire a mix of 763/744/777A's and it will coincide with heavy checks due...�� It's good news either way.

 

Not at all what I heard and I do believe this will extend the fences. As for the differing strategies, the CAL MC publicly stated that they did not want fences prior to the SLI proceedings. They also urged the UAL side to abandon that position but to no avail.

Guess they got one thing right?

 

I'd have to agree with you there. JP was planning on his rape and pillage based ISL proposal to come through for him. Fences would have been a detriment to his newly conquered territory.

Turns out he whole fence concept was a lead fart in either case.

 

I guess I don't get those who think there's some great conspiracy here concerning using the probable order of the 777-300ERs to keep us ex sUAL pilots from flying the 787. The fence is clear, 5 years or 25th delivery, which ever is first.

My take is this, current UAL management totally missed the market and now does not have the heavy lift it needs for the next ten years. The 787 is NOT a replacement for the 777 or 747. Not only is this a truth the 787 has not met the sales pitch expectations of the airplane. It will be a valuable part of the United fleet mix and who knows maybe one of the best markets for the -10 version will be a cattle version to Hawaii.

Now what should the 777-300ER pay? That issue, as others point out, has been settled. Remember many wanted their smaller wide bodies to pay the same as the their big brothers. Live with it.

In the end here's what's important to me; an airplane is an airplane. Some have better bunks, bigger and more comfortable cockpits, are a bit easier to fly. I want to get paid the most money for the most days off that fit my life. Yep, I'm a pilot and it's all about me.

 

If you say so. It turns out the fences have been a much bigger detriment to the UAL side of the house and were completely unnecessary. Score one for the CAL MC

 

You mean having more pilots making the higher pay is bad?

Depending on when this 777 order comes will determine the fence issue...if they announce a 2015 to 2016 arrival then the fence will not come down until around late 2016 to early 2017...

 

I don't think anyone here has suggested that there is a conspiracy theory regarding the fence. In fact, I very specifically said there is NOT a conspiracy theory with at play, and not for a second do I believe that our management would make a WB order decision based on when the fence comes down. Frankly I'm sure they couldn't care less. But I have a feeling that this WILL delay the fence coming down by a bit. We will see soon enough.

 

I agree. The fences have hurt the LUAL pilot side much more than the LCAL pilot side. When was the last Capt bid on the 400? I don't think I can even remember one. And now you DEFINITELY won't see one anytime soon if the 777-300ER's start arriving within the next 12 months to replace the 400's early. Bummer for us. But it is what it is.

 

Scenario 1
Airplane A - $270/hour <---highest pay
Airplane B - $260/hour <---2nd highest pay
Airplane C - $250/hour <---3rd highest pay

Scenario 2

Airplane A - $250/hour <---highest pay
Airplane B - $250/hour <---highest pay
Airplane C - $250/hour <---highest pay

So what you're saying is that Scenario 2 is the best because most of the pilots get the "highest pay" when in fact, Airplane C pay wouldn't be different, just A and B would be more.

Now if this was being done, say prior to SLI hearings, and your airline has Airplane C, but the other airline has a ton of Airplane A's and B's and you want to make it look like you have more airplanes in the "Top pay scale" you go with Scenario 2 for sure because "SLI lasts forever and contracts come and go".

Turns out it didn't matter because Airplane C was not counted with the A's and B's for Status and Category, but now we all are stuck with the lower pay.

DAL pays more to their 777 and 747 pilots than their own 787 or 767-400 guys. But we don't.

I wonder why that is....

 

There are 700 planes in the fleet. Only 14 of them are 787s. That's only 3% of the fleet that LUAL pilots can't fly. The 747's are only 5% of the fleet.

Fences are small potatoes, especially with the 25th delivery coming this year.