American Connection?

[racerX]

You Eagle folks seem to have aggression towards TSA and CHQ for doing a job that they have been doing for years. Your assertion that they have no business flying AA feed is based on YOUR contract with YOUR code share. Your beef is with AMR not the struggling pilots of TSA and CHQ. As stated before, they have had those routes for a very long time. The idea that AA should chop away two good sized portions of the regional industry, leaving their pilots in the cold to suit your needs, is unfair and just plain mean.

(string reopened)

 

[FlyinBrian]

I am a furloughed Eagle pilot, and I honestly have no beef with the pilots of CHQ or TSA. You are right, our beef is with AMR. We are their regional airline. You guys had an agreement with TWA, an airline that no longer exists. It is unfortunate that you were flying feed for a dying airline. If you want to fly feed for AA, as the previous posters have indicated, you have to be on our list. This is per our contract which existed long before the TWA merger, and was constructed to avoid precisely this kind of thing from happnening. (Eagle pilots on the street while AA feed was being farmed out.) Keep in mind that this was the biggest issue that convinced our union to accept a 16 year no strike agreement. We made the sacrifice for that scope clause, and now our company should honor it.

 

[racerX]

Sorry to give the wrong impression. I don't fly for either TSA or CHQ and I DON'T want to fly feed for AA. I just recognize when someone is tryin' to do it to someone else.

 

[Av8trxx]

".....these were OUR routes and have ALWAYS been our routes. By taking them away from us you put OUR pilots out of work for the sake of yours..."

This may have 'always' been so in the past, but that doesn't mean you have the sole right to them in the future.

The same can be said of some former TWA routes now being flown by American. It's just a fortunate situation for TSA & CHQ that TWA did not go under before being bought out! In that situation, what carrier would TSA & CHQ feed in STL? In such a scenario, AA theoretically could have moved in and you'd be flying against AE instead of feeding AA in STL. It's also fortunate for TSA & CHQ that AMR is so cheap they are willing to screw their own employees. You can bet as soon as it's better for AMR, they will find a legal back door out of that contract. That's they way they do business- it's all about them and no one else.

I have no ill will towards any AA Connection pilots. It sucks to be furloughed and I don't wish it on anyone, but the present situation is just not right. Eventually it will all be resolved but until that time, operating as AA Connection could possibly be called "flying on borrowed time" for TSA & CHQ.

Just a thought....

 

[racerX]

How many times has an "in-moving" airline used the words "you guys are lucky to have jobs. We could have just cut you loose". The acquisition of TWA would have been far too costly if TSA and CHQ were cut immediately and AA tried to operate TWA LLC without a connection until AE could spool up enough pilots and aircraft to do the job. The same goes for AA. They tell TWA pilots that they are lucky to have jobs but the reality is they had neither the pilots or aircraft to just move in and fill the gates and routes that TWA was flying the next day. Don't you think that AA would have used AE if they could? Who want's the headache of AE whining about contract violations. As to who would TSA and CHQ feed if TWA went under, they would have fed anyone who moved in. And someone would have moved in. And they would have needed a connection. And unless they were AA, they would have been grateful for the ready made help.

 

[skydiverdriver]

You guys should all be joining us at rjdefense.com, to force ALPA to keep this kind of stuff from happening to ANYBODY!

 

[XJAVRO]

To those CHQ guys that got fired, welcome to Bedford's world!!! I talked to a bunch of CHQ guys before Sept11 who just loved bedford. Now they see the light. Bedford is scum he'll screw everyone to make his money. So you AE guys watch out to he'll take as much AA flying as he can get.

 

[MartinFierro]

American Connection

Just wanted to say one thing about the TSA/CHQ problem at Eagle.

I myself am currently on furlough from Eagle. The American Connection problem is deeper than merely TSA/CHQ continuing to fly their routes. It is also a problem in terms of our scope with AA.

While AA has any pilot on furlough, Eagle is not allowed to increase system capacity that it had when those furloughes took place. So at the moment Eagle is locked into the capacity it had as of Oct. 1. While currently Eagle is not flying to that capacity, it cannot expand past it until AA recalls everyone.

The problem is that all of the flying that TSA/CHQ does as American Connection counts towards that limit. So, even if Eagle is making money and is in a position to recall pilots to fly our old routes (not having ANYTHING to do with TSA/CHQ routes), Eagle will not be able to recall all of our pilots until AA has all its pilots back, simply because of American Connection. That, my friends, is not just.

 

[FlyinBrian]

I didnt' want to get to into the extremely complex situation Eagle is in, but Martin is right. Even if TSA/CHQ kept all of their current routes, they are would still be stealing routes from AE pilots since we have to stay under the ASM cap.

 

[FL370]

Taken from Aviation International News :

http://www.ainonline.com/issues/01_02/01_02_eaglepilotspg62.html

Since Eagle does not currently operate out of St. Louis, the company would have to establish a new base there in the unlikely event arbitrators rule that Chautauqua and Trans States cannot operate as American Connection. Of course, ALPA will attempt to use the scope provisions in its contract as leverage in its scheduled negotiations for better pay and work rules.

It will be interesting to see how things turn out....

FL370