Consider this...
When the regionals or commuters became the new thing at the legacy carriers, the proposal to ALPA might have gone done like this....
"In order to manage our cost we are adding another vendor to service our Brand." XYZ Commuter will fly 19seat turbo props for our Brand."
The ALPA pilots might have replied, that is our flying, we own it. To which management would've countered, "sure.. your pilots can quit mainline and fly there if they want."
The whole premise of starting another airline to serve mainline creates plenty of issues. If mainline pilots operated commuter airplanes from the begininnig, who would they work for? Mainline or the commuter? Who would be their supervisor? Picture a mainline pilot who works for mainline but flies a commuter aircraft. He/she is the only employee that doesn't work for the commuter. Will the FAA even allow a pilot who does work for the certificate holder to operate the aircraft? It could cause alot of discord.
Plenty of regional pilots think they got screwed when the mainline guys simply cut them off at the 50 seat jet line. Maybe.
It is interesting how, now, the mainline guys are moving the 50 seat line to 70 seat. And J4J and pref hiring are reactionary efforts....
Brand Scope has its place, but it still has problems. For example, with regionals that feed multiple carriers, how is a pilot aligned with a Brand? Does he just choose one? Maybe.
Mainline wants to pick and choose who gets to work for them, thus a simple flow thru isn't acceptable. It get more complex when multiple regionals feed different brands and the brand has multiple feeders. (USAIR). It is easier with one feed. (CAL)
Thus the issue is incredibly complex. For a pilot to point to ALPA and say "you guys sux", Says more about the pilot and his lack of understanding of the issues.
To all:
This is your career. Spend some time listening instead of talking. Get informed. No one is consciencously trying to screw another, and if they were could you be the bigger person?
ALPA is a resource not a service.
