Request for Proposals to connect for DAL

[Vortilon]

Jetflyr,

Just for the record, the DELTA PILOTS did not ask COMAIR PILOTS for wage concessions.....COMAIR MANAGEMENT did.

One position, however, that the Delta Pilots have is that they should not be the only ones to take pay cuts and concessions...something Delta management disagrees with. The Delta pilots didn't point at other groups and say "lower their pay"...they are merely saying "we are all in this together, are we not?" DAL Management doesn't think so.

So even with all the whipsaswing issues everywhere, DALPA is currently holding the line at this point.

On a side note, its pretty sad that COMAIR could ask for concessions from its pilots....what exactly could a $19/hr FO contribute? Gee...that 80-160 per month really helps the bottom line. Even more disgusting is that Comair is in the black AND they asked for concessions. At least the silence from the Comair MEC in response is deafening!

 

[TWA Dude]

Management does have the upper hand. What I see as unfortunate is the concept that there has to be an "upper hand" at all. The adversarial relationships with management do us no more good as a whole, than the adversarial relationship with each other.

Surplus1:

It's tough to find much to disagree with in your post as well. Of course pilots agreeing with each other doesn't make for very interesting reading.

We all know that the captain sets the tone in the cockpit. So too management sets the tone vis a vis the unions. If it's a competition to them it necessarily must be to us. Why most airline managers can't figure out something so fundamentally obvious, I don't know, but that's why I fly airplanes instead of managing them.

The "god" of money (or the pursuit of it) that we now worship as a society has not done much that I would call "good" in the development of our culture as a people.

My turn to be the cynic. What's the alternative? We can create a theocracy where "moral" law = common law but I think history has proven that to be a far worse alternative. Was it Churchill who said, "Democracy is the worst form government, except for all the rest."

I don't think you're pessimistic, the unions aren't doing well. However, we may have different ideas as to why. I don't think they are really trying to change the weather, at least not the current weather. What they are doing is trying to perpetuate the past. The people that run the unions are at the top of the professional pilot ladder and will do anything they can to keep themselves there, even if it means risking the destruction of the very profession that got them there. They have ignored the changes that are all around us and refuse to respond to current realities. Their objective is to keep it "the way it was/is" at whatever point in time they find favorable to their personal interests. Not very different from the behavior of the "managers" they criticize.

I view the expression "destroying the profession" with much skepticism. I feel the profession will ebb and flow with the market pretty much regardless of the lastest union contract, PFT, ab-initio programs, or what have you. I agree with your assessment of top union officials up to a point. What would differ if ALPA National officers were very junior? I'm not going to touch the Small Jet vs. Mainline Jet issue since I've already agreed that there is a conflict of interest there in ALPA.

Haven't seen you on the "board" for awhile. Nice to have you back. I have pleasant memories of our former political discussions. Regards.

Oh, I've been around. I've just lost patience in jumping into all the mudslinging. A year after my furlough and I'm finally back in the cockpit, so maybe I'll get angry enough to jump in more often.

Take care.

 

[belchfire]

If they are looking for cheap, I gotta
number in tn for them to call!!! Have
to be 19 seats though, that's all we
can afford!

 

[jobear]

It is refreshing to see a civil discussion on the state of affairs of the airline industry. One point I think we could interject here is that a Large portion of all US mainline carriers were Very heavily leverged before 9-11-01.
All carriers were overpricing there tickets and Buying/Leaseing new A/C and ungodly rates, one tragic event did not put some airlines into Bankruptcy. (hastened yes)
Any thoughts on this line of reasoning or am I being dumb again?

Jobear