170/175 and CRJ900

[flap operator]

Wow... absolutely incredible. The attitude that Compass pilots are somehow more worthy of being a mainline Delta pilot because they were screened by mainline NWA pilots is ludicrous. You guys and this push to staple Compass have a few good points that support your position. Unfortunately you're grasping for straws in a lot of the arguments... like this screening bit.

So, somehow the Mesaba, Comair and other DCI pilots are somehow inferior because we didn't go through the mainline interview? Do you know anything about the interview process at XJ and OH? Didn't think so. We're just a bunch of cowboy, unskilled, unprofessional, unsafe misfits to you huh? Except when you want the jumpseat of course.

I'm all for a good fight and admire the tenacity of a few DL pilots who want to staple Compass. I don't agree with all your motives and reasonings, but it doesn't matter in the end. If your fight just BEGINS with Compass, as you claim, perhaps it's wise to NOT alienate the rest of us. Especially since Compass pilots have no voice and the rest of the DCI groups with our own MECs do. If you're going to want to dance in the future, we're going to have to be willing.

The attitudes in trying to justify your cause are just amazing. It makes me sick.

 

[PeanuckleCRJ]

Do you know anything about the interview process at XJ and OH? Didn't think so.

Actually, I do know quite a bit about those processes, among others. The fact is that the standards are different. I find it insulting that you think that a major interview is just the same as a regional one! That shows that you have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. Not to mention the screening that goes on before you are even invited to the interview....

If you want to sell the pilots from the other regionals to the majority of the pilot group, there is going to have to be some sort of "filter." I've barked up this tree several times, and that is the general consensus.


Edit: Also speaking out of lack of knowledge you said the CPZ pilots have no say in this. They do. They have spoken out very strongly in favor for this. They are on the street if we are to furlough, and additionally are just waiting for a mainline number (which they have rights to).

 

[Flybet3]

We are trying to prove you wrong.. this is the first and most simple step.

Keep telling yourself the CRJ isnt worthy. When I last jumpseated on a CRJ-900, we took off weighing 82,000 pounds. The picture on airliners.net of a 900 taxiing next to a DC-9-30 makes me sick.

If this movement gets momentum (as it should... most of the senior captains I fly with are more than fired up about getting brand scope), you'll see a significant push (a la AAL) when negotiations start up again.

I've tried to push the deal with just bringing on all the wholly owned carriers with guys, but there is alot of resistance since XJ and OH haven't had a mainline interview or been appropriately screened. This would be the same with the other regionals, though even more hurdles.

BTW, this DOES creat new jobs. It creates 360 fewer regional jobs and 360 additional mainline jobs.... that is 180+ more Delta captains. On top of all that, those 360 slots will be converted into 400-420+ by conforming to our workrules and staffing requirements. Didn't think of that, did you?


I say again.. this is the first step of many. Let's make this the career that we dreamed of having when we were kids.

Ok ok i just have to say... you are full of sh*t! You flew for the regionals and if it wasn't because you got lucky and apparently are very good at kissing a$$ most likely you would most likely be in the left seat of one of these 70 seaters that make you so sick. You whored yourself out to fly a shinny jet at a regional on mainline routes to try and make it to the majors. You made it to a major and now you criticize and attack the same thing you did just 3 years ago. ******************************ee!

 

[PeanuckleCRJ]

I critcized and attacked those 70 seaters while I was there, too...along with the people who salivated over them.

 

[flap operator]

Peanuckle... I'm sorry man, but YOU have no clue as to what standards XJ or OH hires at. Unless you are involved in XJ, OH or any other hiring, you have no idea. I can only speak for XJ and you are so off base with your apparent knowledge on our hiring process. I don't exactly know what insight you have in the XJ process, but I assure you, it involved way more than you seem to believe.

You simply cannot come on here and honestly tell me you know how the hiring process works at XJ or any other airline. It amazes me that you spent all of 3 short years at Pinnacle and now somehow you're some kind of guru on all things regional and a grizzled mainliner. Your dads years don't count. You were at Pinnacle. Different from Mesaba, different from Comair. Different from Delta.

There are definitely great reasons to make the case you're making with CPZ. Just leave behind all the sanctimonious, patronizing and insulting BS that is mixed in with the facts that have meat. That's all I'm saying.

Oh... yea... Compass pilots have a non voting representative within the DAL MEC. They sure do have a voice. They just can't speak.

 

[Tristar]

Beats working in a cubicle or being a CFI.
Money can't buy you happiness. But the view from FL 350 can make you very happy.

Yeah, but it can't pay your mortgage, put your kids through college, or provide for your retirement. I understand the attraction for kids out of puppy mills to take these jobs (when they were available), but continuing to allow ever bigger airplanes to be flown on what should be mainline routes just further erodes the entire profession.

It's not anti-regional, it's pro-professional pilot career. Everyone in this industry needs to move up in pay and benefits, and that will never happen with half a dozen regionals all being whipsawed against each other. It's well past time for "regional flying" to return to being true regional flying, and grow the mainlines so everyone in the industry can advance (and if you want to stay at the regionals, great - but you deserve to make a decent living for doing so).

 

[PeanuckleCRJ]

What does my dad have to do with this?

And OK, I'm finally ready to admit it. The XJ interview is more stringent than any interview out there.


In seriousness, the whole premise of this came from me suggesting brand scope and bringing all the pilots on with them. I was fighting for you guys...still am. After all, DAL got some fruitcakes from the Northeast guys, which had very different hiring standards. There is still some history there and selling that to the masses will be a very tough sell. Most interviews these days are quite similar in what they are looking at/for... the difference is the level that is considered passing.

 

[flap operator]

The compass pilot group is basically made up of refugees from other airlines. Some of those other airlines are ones within the DCI family. Those people were hired at let's say... Comair or Mesaba at one point. Those people were then hired at Compass, after being lucky enough to get through the stringent uphill battle in what some are calling their NWA interview. Even more shocking... there are ex- Mesaba pilots who were outright hired at DL before you and WITH you! I know, shocking.

My question is this: they were good enough for OH/XJ, then were good enough for CP, now they're good enough for DAL. But the rest of us at OH, XJ et al aren't?

I get the premise... I just think you're under estimating the screening process and interview process at airline other than Compass. Wow.. the passing level is different. That's patronizing, thanks.

FYI - less than 20% of all applicants at XJ got an interview and of those that did interview, more than half were turned away.

This isn't a pissing match for whose airline is better. It's about the condescending, patronizing and arrogant attitude that is exuding from this whole issue.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

Guys, this has nothing to do with the fact that you are good enough. We all know you will be my Captain over here at DAL. Give it a rest. I understand that you are miffed that we are focusing on CPZ and not OH and XJ. There are reasons for that. They are the reasons that made CPZ become a real entity in the first place. Ask the NWA guys how hard they fought to keep CPZ as close as possible. We are fighting to keep these rights. If we are successful it benefits everyone at a DCI carrier. It may take four to eight years but it will.

On another note. CPZ guys do have a voice. They are members of the LEC's in their respective bases. They can run for any office, put up any resolution that at DAL guys or gal can. They are in effect DALPA members to the fullest. It makes sense that we fight to give them a seniority number to go along with their union rights.
If it were not set up this way, we would be doing this under a different auspice, and you would be named in the resolution.
Read the resolution. It does not exclude you for a reason. If our MEC chooses to include you we are not going to limit them. This is a fact finding mission. When the facts are in, we will have the answers and direction we are going in.
Talk to your LEC reps, get educated on the Ford-Cooksey settlement with ALPA national. You fly a CRJ series jet it applies to you. Also, ask them who filed the suit, and what pit falls that suit brings to bringing you on in part or whole. There is where your issue lies. It is hard fact, and politics pay a huge roll in this. The politics are not favoring you in D.C..

I will do everything I can to get you what you demand us DALPA guys give to you, but you need to do your homework. Educate yourself on the issues, and how they effect this process. Then see how CPZ differs. They are the only ALPA carrier flying the E-series jet. They vote in their own MEC and the game changes, for the worse. Currently putting those jets on the list does not conflict with the Ford Cookesy settlement. It is not that it is a better jet. It is about winning a first major step in bringing flying back to mainline.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

And do not forget that WE have first hand experience and knowledge of the regional and mainline interview processes. We are not taking a whack at you, we are just telling you like it is.

Hate that it is getting you so upset. Apply and go though the process next time and you will understand.