Heavy Set,
I completely sympathyze with the struggles that the mainline pilots are going through. While I certainly would like to see continued growth at ASA, my number one goal is to see mainline return to health so that many of us can move on someday. However, the ASA situation is quite different from the mainline problems. Mainline is losing flying to DCI because they are losing a LOT of money. Something has to be done to cut those losses, and DCI is a good way to cut costs. It sucks for the mainline guys on the street, but hopefully these actions will return DAL to good financial health. ASA on the other hand is making money, yet we're still losing flying We are now required to disclose our financial performance, and we've been profitable for some time now (I could be wrong, but I believe that we only lost money for 1 quarter following 9-11).
You seem to take this whole issue very personally, which is something that amazes me. You assume that since I fly for ASA, that I want to see DAL mainline shrink, and DCI to take over the world. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I want a job at a major, and the only way I'm going to get there is by building time at a place like ASA. Had my timing been a little earlier, I may very well have been one of those mainline guys on furlough. There are some ASA/CMR guys that claim the RJ is the greatest thing ever, and that's all they want to see in their career. However, the vast majority of us realize that someday the RJ growth days will be gone, and things won't be so rosey at any of the "regionals".
Just one more thing about this board that drives me nuts: Pilots need to stick together. While I'm not happy we're losing some flying to CHT, I certainly won't take that frustration out on CHT pilots. CHT pilots, just like ASA/CMR/SKW for that matter, simply come to work and fly where the boss tells them. I'm embarassed to say that we have many pilots that feel that it's the CHT pilots are the reason we're losing this flying. Give me a break, this is DCI management playing us against each other. Untile Leo starts calling pilots and asking where they want to fly, we need to quit blaming other pilots for our problems. That goes for both mainline and connection pilots