Holy cow, man. You put some work into that post. Just looking at all of the different font HTML code.
I'll address some of these, as an outsider:
-Lowest starting pay in the industry. Somehow I doubt it. Ya still have MESA out there and the likes. Starting pay is what it is, at every airline
-First to give back their pensions. Point of clarification--major failure of ALPA here, at the National level. First, the MEC of USAir allowed the giveback without any kind of membership ratification. None, zero, zip. As an airline with a significant elderly population, my guess is that the MEC knew what that vote would be. IMO, the pilots would have fallen on their sword and tubed the whole airline. meanwhile, you had the rest of the industry, including my airline, salivating over the pickings that would be left when USAir went away. Who are the scumbags again who tried to leave a fellow ALPA group out to dry, only the ALPA group did not cooperate and went into survival mode. That's what REALLY happened. Blame the USAir guys all you want, but I think you are pointing the gun in the wrong direction.
-First in the industry to take major concessions. See the previous paragraph. Done in a BS BK designed to be the point of the spear to spread through the industry--which it did. Blaming the pilots for this? Not quite.
-First to charge for beverages. OK. Point taken.
-Last in 190 pay. Couple of points here. First, your right. Second, BK rates, kind of like Delta only a bit more severe. 3rd, they have successfully kept the planes on property. We'll see if the rest of the industry follows suit
-Last in pay/vacation. Yup. BK sucks. Two BKs suck worse, no doubt that USAir played the BK card to a T. Ever went back and checked why?
-Rescued in CH7. Complete BS. USAir was a viable company when AWA "bought them". AWA had the option of watching USAir "liquidate", and snatching up the pieces, yet they didn't? USAir "went" Bk twice in an astoundingly short period of time. There is no doubt in my mind the reason for the second one. It's obvious to anyone with any kind of knowledge about the industry. USAir was down, but far from out. The financials since the merger speak volumes about the "viability" of each side.
-"binding arbitration", choosing arbitration, choosing the arbitrator. Been argued to death here and elsewhere. Choose a side. You'll choose the west, I'll choose neither. I've little doubt in my mind that the west got an extremely favorable ruling. Arbitration rules of engagement were not followed by the arbitrator, again IMO. SO is binding indeed binding? Yes for some, not so much for others. and so it goes.
--CEO in jail. Yep, scumbag. Where did he come from again?
--poor spokesmen. Yup no argument there. Taking your cues about an airline from an anonymous board leads me to question your judgement. West side has just as many, so does Delta, SWA, AA, UAL.
Is the East a drag down on the industry? Currently, I would agree. However, a look over recent history shows the East side as an enviable airline for a fair amount of time, and indeed they have some outstanding qualities in their contract despite it's deficiencies, and they also had one of the best contracts ever pre-911. Shortly after 9/11, the winners and losers were chosen by the powers that be, rather than being fiercely represented as they should have been. You can always turn the tables and look at the West side. What have they EVER done to raise the bar in the industry instead of having NO pension, low pay, poor contracts, and leading the charge to change age 60?
I think that your anger is misplaced. JMO.
