Mesa-The Anti-Christ of Regionals

[Machdog1]

Turtle how you voted on your contract will determine if you are the enemy or not!!
Piedmont you are not alone!! Other regionals are with you with the hatred towards MESA, they are a problem that effects all of us.

 

[UpNDownGuy]

This is nothing new for Mesa. I am a former WestAir pilot, and proud of it. We introduced Ornstein and Risley to a word they had never before encountered. The word is "NO!", and prior to buying WestAir, they had never heard it from any of their pilots. "Yes, Mr Risley sir....how high?" "Wax your car? I'll get to it after I finish cutting the headquarters grass". Disgusting. Some things will never change.

 

[FSB99]

i'm sure the mesa had something to do with the massive blackout today, too.

 

[blzr]

Yeah, some Mesa Academaxied into a trany 400hr captain on an ERJ taxied into a transformer at EWR.

It's a good story anyway. (and a bit believable)

 

[MiniMeGotWings]

You guys should look in the mirror

instead of blaming mesa for everthing that is wrong with the world, maybe a collective we should all take a good hard look in the mirror. we as ALPA members dropped the ball a long time ago in regards to scope and where rj's should go. i know as much as air wiskey and comair guys like to talk about how they would like to retire at their respective companies, let's face it, wouldn't they all rather be flying at a major somewhere. ALPA national never thought a little 50 seat rj would ever be a threat to the big boys until it was too late. the answer was to try to protect mainline pilot's routes through scope language, a technique which we have all witnessed doesn't do squat. in a perfect world, all of those rj's should've been flown by mainline pilots at mainline wages and benefits. turboprops should have stayed at the commuters. we would have never even had the term "regional airline" in the first place. what ALPA's scope language did is allowed the commuters to grow into regional airlines at the expense of mainline jobs. had we all insisted that those aircraft go to the majors, that would have meant more jobs for all of us, with more benefits, and a higher quality of life. it wasn't mesa that did this...it was all of us that created this monster. unfortunately mesa saw a new devil arise in the form of JO. he thinks about ways around the system faster than ALPA can stop him. mesa guys saw their jets going elsewhere...(didn't you guys at piedmont used to have dc-9's???) it would've been nice if the mesa guys could've counted on ALPA for support...but why should they. ALPA is the reason this all got started in the first place. i believe that ALPA has its place...at the majors, where it can use its resources to try and protect the compensation and quality of life issues that those before us have worked so hard to capture. but at a regional??? come on...let's be real, ALPA isn't concerned about you. where does the money come from??? mesa? piedmont? allegheny? regional carriers should form a union who has their interests at heart, not the mainline carrier. your 1.95% does nothing to secure your job. remember delta signed an industry leading contract while the comair guys were on strike.
ask any mesa pilot if he or she wouldn't gladly trade in his id for that of any mainline carrier. ask yourself the same question. if we would've all refused to negotiate pay rates for rj's long ago they would've never been brought on the property and many more of us would be in the greener pastures on the other side. mesa was only trying to protect their flying since the rest of us in ALPA screwed things up for everyone years ago. mesa bashing isn't the answer. finding common ground amongst all of the regional carriers is.

 

[SELFloadingCRGO]

Here here, well said MiniMe.
I just knew there was someone else out there who thought like me.

Now let's see how those sharks with lasers work, throw in J.O.!


...you complete me...

 

[StaySeated]

Nail on the Head

**CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** mini, I could not agree with you more. First, we missed the boat and the damage is done. We have let management establish a permanent "B" scale in the form of regional airlines. Second, I especially like the fact that you did not call Alpa "national", as we are all to blame for not seeing the light before mgmt. did. Lets not even get started on the fact that since every city in the nation is shared, "self help" is a thing of the past. Comair will forever be the last regional airline strike.

 

[blzr]

MINI.....

Yeah, Piedmont used to haveDC-9's and 727's and 757's, all those bigboy toys. But you are confusind Piedmont and Piedmont. When you fly on Airways with that old guy that took flying lessons with Wilber Wright, THAT is old Piedmont. We at PDT now are just in name only. We used to be Henson before the old man went completely crazy and sold his buisness to those retards at Airways.

It all boils down to you guys swallowing a load of J.O. and signing off on quite possably the worst labor contract since slavery was legal.

You are resented, nothing anyone can do about that. Think about that next time the vote comes up in 2050.

 

[UpNDownGuy]

Mini, I think you are missing the point. The point is that Mesa has been, and apparently will always be a haven for the most tentative, easily intimidated pilots known to man. I attended a joint WestAir/Mesa MEC meeting shortly after Mesa voted in ALPA, and was preparing to start contract negotiations. I listened in astonishment as the Mesa negotiators explained that they were shooting for their current pay in the contract because anything more "might upset Mr Risley." I kid you not....Can you even imagine? I couldn't, but apparently those same chaps negotiated the last contract. Oh, and by the way: While I am not familiar with the exact payrates, the defense of "everthing went up, except for a couple of work rules" is pretty lame. If Mesa were to get 737's, negotiating a rate 1 penny above B-1900 wages would NOT be an improvement....I just think that ALPA should invest money into a seminar for Mesa pilots, to explain that they really ARE worth every penny they're getting paid, and not to feel guilty because JO tries to make them feel bad...maybe Tony Robbins could speak...

 

[C150Heavy]

Alpa signed the Mesa contract

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Alpa national sign off on the Mesa contract. I believe most of the other "regional carriers" are members of Alpa, so why didn't you have your MEC complain to Alpa national? I do remember most of you b _ _ ching about the TA, so you knew it was coming.

Ps. Piedmont and ALG you bit the hand that feeds you and your shocked they are shutting you down. Why are you surprised?
Did you really believe Alpa was going to fight for you? Your problem might end with Mesa but it started with Alpa.

 

[No.W.]

I haven't been doing the 121 thing very long, but I keep hearing that Mesa provides cheap, but unreliable feed to their major partners. Is this true? If so, maybe the only hope is that survival of the fittest will play out and they will either improve the operation(by providing more incentive for their people to work harder...read...higher pay) or they will die and be absorbed. Perhaps this is wishful thinking, as I am currently working at an airline that is being hurt in a small, but direct way by Mesa's dealings. This also worries me:

Quote from J.O. on a recent conf. call: "We are basically sucking up all the capacity we can handle..."

A scary statement...I don't want to be without a job for the second time in as many years...and that is a real possibility with a this "sucking" going on(made possible by bidding the lowest possible price for whatever flying Ornstein can find). I don't "resent" Mesa pilots...but I do struggle with their company's strategy in the market place. But, then again, maybe my own words come back to bite me and we are all going to die as Mesa does more with less for less. I guess it could go both ways.

 

[stillaboo]

I keep hearing that Mesa provides cheap, but unreliable feed to their major partners. Is this true?

Some are chaper, most are not. Unreliable is a relative term. Mesa has grown too fast. It's hard to fly 400 routes when you only have enough employees to cover 360 of them.

Can Mesa cover their growth b/f UA, HP, and U cancel them? Completion rates were 97.55% for Mesa and 99.4% at Freedom last week - the #'s speak for themselves.

-Boo!

 

[meanstreak]

Do you know why you have high completion rates? It's certainly not because your on time. Ask any gate agent in the US Airways system, they will tell you. They fly planes 6 hours or later behind schedule just to make sure the completion rate is high. 99% of these flights get flown empty. Remember folks these pilots didn't fight for cancellation pay, therefore unless the flight gets flown nobody gets paid. What sucks the most is the ground crews have to stay late just to turn an empty airplane. And you wonder why ramp and other people bash you, your operation is run by a bunch of morons.

 

[regionalhell]

Why Mesa Pilots Suck

One of these days I am going to write a diatribe on this issue, but for right now I'll just say that I give this post two thumbs up.
And to all MESA(Freedom) pilots: No matter what sad story you have to tell in your defense, you are still the most disrespected pilot group in this industry!!!!!!!!

 

[crj579]

WAAA WAAA Mesa is destroying my life WAAA WAAA. Change my diaper. I've fallen and I can't get up. WAAA WAAA

Quit your **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** whining and get a life.