AirTran MEC: Whine on!

[doh]

I was in a hotel close to Love Field last night and met a good number of AT guys going thru the transition and they all liked what was going on, one even said his union dues will now drop when they become SWAPA members. There are lots more transition classes happening for the rest of the year(1000+)

165 transitions (on average) a month? Really? That's fantastic news! Can you substantiate that?

 

[Just thinking]

The Wyndham house of rumors...... Great source. Haven't hired enough instructors for that load yet. Still interviewing at various bases for the staff for next year. Enjoy the 2300-0300 sims next year. It will make the A period look like a late morning sleep in day. Of course the captain seat rush will be on so all the premium time slots will be taken by rsw pilots.

 

[PCL_128]

PCL128, do you think the Midwest MEC Vice Chair would have been running around telling their pilots that they were guaranteed to get better than DOH from an arbitrator?

I can't imagine that any MEC Vice Chair would ever "guarantee" anything.

 

[SWA/FO]

In that case (where a merger never took place) PCL's argument is that the Midwest pilots should have gotten less than DOH (by way of relative seniority) because AT was the younger, faster growing airline. His argument was the same with SW/AT because, again, AT was the younger faster growing airline with quicker promotion. In both cases he was working for the younger, faster growing airline so why wouldn't he want that....who wouldn't in the same position?

Relative seniority always favors the faster growing airline at that moment with the quicker upgrade at the moment. I see his argument, I just don't agree with it. He makes the argument that SW's superior compensation, contract and job security was contractual and therefore could change at a moment's notice so it was not a factor in an integration. At the same time he is assuming that AT's faster growth and upgrades were somehow a situation that would NOT change at a moment's notice and were relevant and should be considered to reflect career expectations. He seems to overlook the fact that while SW's pay and benefits remained untouched through 2008 and 2009 (and no pilot was furloughed) AT went from hiring and upgrading to furloughing and downgrading in an instant. If anything growth and fast promotion is a more temporary and fickle thing than contract quality because it can change drastically very abruptly.

I don't blame PCL and he, along with everybody else, is entitled to his own opinion but fair is a relative term and it all depends on where you stand. I think people on both sides oversimplify the issue, every case is different from others and this would have been an interesting arbitration. I have my own opinion on what an arbitrated list would have looked like and whether it would have ever actually been implemented but it doesn't matter now, it's over and the list is the list for now and forever.

That is 100% correct.

 

[HA25]

I meant no disrespect for Hawaiian, just in the age of acquisition/merger, no one wants to be the low hanging pineapple...but I know nothing...

I see no reason for HAL pilots to get anything other than DOH in any merger with a DAL, AA or UAL... bottom line, as ALPA pilots, we've carried our weight in this industry and continue to do so. We're a small carrier, but if purchased, we'd bring quite a high proportion of widebody jets and in many cases, brand new ones. Not a Reno Air scenario in anyway, shape or form...

 

[freightdogfred]

I see no reason for HAL pilots to get anything other than DOH in any merger with a DAL, AA or UAL... bottom line, as ALPA pilots, we've carried our weight in this industry and continue to do so. We're a small carrier, but if purchased, we'd bring quite a high proportion of widebody jets and in many cases, brand new ones. Not a Reno Air scenario in anyway, shape or form...

I agree. But as it was explained to me by a number of SWAPA pilots on this board, that's what the COMPANY brings, not the pilot group. That's the way they see it, anyways. Seems the intent of the MB legislation will be subverted no matter what, provided you put enuff lawyers on retainer.

 

[madjack]

What if the pilot group is not "bringing" seats?

 

[fletch717]

What if the pilot group is not "bringing" seats?

That was YOUR'RE managements decision. If you say they had no intention of ever keeping the 717, and you RSW pilots knew it. Then you allowed your management to screw you. Many RSW pilots like to post all the articles that point to the 717 leaving, yet you said nothing to your union or your company to get special wording in the SLI to protect your seats. We were told by SWA before the second deal was signed that the 717 would stay to the end of their lease. But you RSWA guys knew all the time they would'nt, and you still voted for the deal. If you like I can re post where you, red,bubba and others continually remind us how dumb we were to believe the 717 would stay.

 

[madjack]

"yet you said nothing to your union or your company to get special wording in the SLI to protect your seats.:

Well I guess AAI pilots don't have a monopoly on gullability...

 

[j41driver]

Rel Sen, talk about overshooting the mark and creating unrealistic expectations...

"No harm" created just as many unrealistic expectations. Plenty of blame to go around where that's concerned.