RFP Announced at DCI

[Axel]

The only thing I profoundly resent is those mo#$%^ers at CHQ getting more flying and aircraft instead of CMR.

When are IDIOTS like you going to realize that us MOFO's at CHQ had nothing to do with any decisions that were made.

Blah blah, blah...Like all this fussing will make a whit of difference or change anyone's opinion. Next there will be threats of jumpseat wars. Give it a rest.

 

[OldManPilot]

I am happy for us, because we have been loyal, hard working employees looking out for all. We deserve it. And, it's the first good news we have had in a very long time.

The only thing I profoundly resent is those mo#$%^ers at CHQ getting more flying and aircraft instead of CMR.

Sour Grapes taste terrible.

CHQ is able to bid lower because their cost structure is lower, not the pilot rates. What does it take to make you understand that????? The Pilot pay rates are very competitive with all other regional airline pay rates. It's like comparing Southwest to DAL. It's all in how your business model is designed.

 

[embraerjetpilot]

Maybe it is because the Comair guys deice at the first sign of a snowflake!

HOw many times Ive seen Comair Deice when there was barely a flurry and they were on the ground for 15 minutes... Oh, oops..i doubt they do 15 minute turns either.

 

[gordon24]

How many times have I seen you sh@ttaco morons screw up. Do you idiots even know basic procedures? Case in point, coming out of GSP this morning. CHQ had no idea who to call for a clearance (had to ask an eagle flt). Couldn't wait the two mins before tower opened and started blabbing away on the radio. Missed two calls from tower on the taxi out and then stepped on four or five aircraft trying to answer the radio. Yea, class act you got there...fu#king dipsh#ts!

 

[FurloughedAgain]

There are dipsh!ts at EVERY airline and this is a VERY small industry. The Chautauqua pilot you lambast today could be your Captain tomorrow.

Worse yet, you may find yourself in a few years filling out an employment application at Chautauqua.

This industry and our profession is nowhere NEAR stable enough to show such disrespect to our fellow aviators. After all, we live in the biggest glass-house on the planet.

Good advice for everyone. The F/O you mistreat today might be the chief pilot at your NEXT job.

Lets try to be above all of the petty namecalling. Pilots dont make the decisions regarding what airplanes to fly and in which market.

The Comair pilots knew the possible consequences when they chose not to negotiate. This should be no surprise, and no source of animosity or anger. We made our bed (proudly I might add) and now we'll lie in it.

Did anyone honestly expect NOT to get underbid? The one truth in this industry -- the one constant -- is that there will ALWAYS be someone willing to do your job cheaper than you ... and even some who will be willing to pay $11,000 for the opportunity.

-Furloughed Again

 

[TWAER]

There are dipsh!ts at EVERY airline and this is a VERY small industry. The Chautauqua pilot you lambast today could be your Captain tomorrow.

Worse yet, you may find yourself in a few years filling out an employment application at Chautauqua.

This industry and our profession is nowhere NEAR stable enough to show such disrespect to our fellow aviators. After all, we live in the biggest glass-house on the planet.

Good advice for everyone. The F/O you mistreat today might be the chief pilot at your NEXT job.

Lets try to be above all of the petty namecalling. Pilots dont make the decisions regarding what airplanes to fly and in which market.

The Comair pilots knew the possible consequences when they chose not to negotiate. This should be no surprise, and no source of animosity or anger. We made our bed (proudly I might add) and now we'll lie in it.

Did anyone honestly expect NOT to get underbid? The one truth in this industry -- the one constant -- is that there will ALWAYS be someone willing to do your job cheaper than you ... and even some who will be willing to pay $11,000 for the opportunity.

-Furloughed Again

My thoughts exactly. I don't care who got the flying, but showing up on here calling other pilot groups names is pretty sad in my book.

And 172driver, that horse has been beaten to death already. See post last year.

 

[aewanabe]

172 Driver: If you're a Comair pilot with 1100 hours, then no way in hell have you been around for ANY of the labor battles that have been fought the last 4 years on the regional level. After you spent 80000 dollars for your ratings at DCI and taught in a seminole for a year or so, you got to interview at one of the premier regionals in the country with less than a THIRD of the experience required of anyone else. Congratulations; now you get to enjoy the fruits of a contract that OTHERS fought for, while you were still in High School jacking off to old Flying magazines. STFU. You know nothing about the labor situation at Chautauqua, or anywhere else probably.

The more thoughtful, educated pilots at the DCI WOs already realize ther's a helluva lot more than pilot salaries going on with who gets airplanes. Otherwise, why not give all 45 airplanes to us at CHQ? Or better yet, why not MESA? For the rest of you idiots that scream about us "choosing" to fly for less than Comair to steal growth, get your heads out of your asses and study some basic Airline Econ 101. Nobody has topped Comair's contract post 9/11. And as pilots at a contract carrier, we own nothing in terms of flying. We fought to scope our own parent company from using its resources against us. But we have NO leverage to tell Delta, USAirways, American, or anyone else to send flying our way. I'm surprised as much as you wholly-owned guys scream about brand scope that you don't realize this. I was willing to strike to keep my own holding company from using its resources to start a lower-cost, union busting company. Had we actually gone on strike, I can guarantee you right now y'all would be bitching about having to compete with Republic, with no union, paying less than our OLD contract did. BTW, one minor detail.... my brothers at ASA and Comair, y'all were also "contract carriers" until a few short years ago.

Lastly, everyone, including my fellow Chicken Taco eaters, sounds absof#ckinglutely ridiculous when you bitch about another pilot group's skill, or lack thereof. I've seen blunders, big and small, from every pilot group represented on this board. By and large we are all professionals who know our sh!t and bust our asses to do the job right. But if you wanna play remember when (And this is for you, Gordon24, dumbass)... well, I remember having a good friend coming home from college a few winters ago getting splattered all over a cornfield in SE Michigan because someone's company didn't train their Brakillya pilots to escape and evade severe icing conditions. Since we've been around for 30 years and NEVER lost a passenger, your bitching about somebody clusterf#cking an early-morning departure from a Class C airport with the tower still closed seems pretty **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**ed stupid. (And pointing fingers and playing "remember when" still sounds dumb, even when I'm the one doing it. Get the point, children?)

 

[145EXR]

Maybe it is because the Comair guys deice at the first sign of a snowflake!

HOw many times Ive seen Comair Deice when there was barely a flurry and they were on the ground for 15 minutes... Oh, oops..i doubt they do 15 minute turns either.
gordon........i dont fly for your company, nor comair..but i do fly emb-145s...i would HOPE that you would NEVER compromise safety with regards to icing...if my wife and 4 month old son were on your airplane, i would hope that you would de-ice with the 1st sign of a snowflake...you wanna flame guys here for not taking concessions or not being "competative" , thats your right to free speech, but NEVER flame ANYONE for being safe!!!

 

[OldManPilot]

How many times have I seen you sh@ttaco morons screw up. Do you idiots even know basic procedures? Case in point, coming out of GSP this morning. CHQ had no idea who to call for a clearance (had to ask an eagle flt). Couldn't wait the two mins before tower opened and started blabbing away on the radio. Missed two calls from tower on the taxi out and then stepped on four or five aircraft trying to answer the radio. Yea, class act you got there...fu#king dipsh#ts!

Wow!!!!!!!!

Did someone get up on the wrong side of the bed?

Your perfection has me perplexed, should we call you "God"?

 

[FDJ2]

Chautauqua was voted the best Regional Airline of the Year, it therefore comes as no surprise that they would get additional jets and flying at DCI.

Delta Connection Carrier Chautauqua Airlines Named Air Transport World Regional Airline of the Year
Monday January 26, 11:29 am ET


ATLANTA, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Delta Connection would like to congratulate Chautauqua Airlines for receiving the 2004 Air Transport World (ATW) Regional Airline of the Year award.

"The ATW award is a great honor, and Delta Connection is proud to have Chautauqua as part of our portfolio of quality regional airlines," said Fred Buttrell, president and chief executive officer of Delta Connection, Inc. "Chautauqua joined Delta Connection in November 2002, and has been a valuable addition to the DCI family, allowing us to further expand our geographic reach with a high quality product into key markets."

The ATW award is based on exemplary service to customers, technology innovation, superior safety record and development of new markets and services. The award began in 1974, and has become one of the most coveted and valued honors a company or a person in the airline industry can receive."


I'm also glad that ASA got a large part of the additional flying, since they apparently don't have a problem hiring furloughed ALPA pilots, unlike the CMR pilots. That should provide more job opportunities for furloughed ALPA pilots who would like to keep flying while retaining their contractual recall rights. I'm not sure, but don't Skywest and Chautauqua hire furloughed pilots too, without forcing them to resign their contractual recall rights? If so, than all the better.

 

[Corbon]

How many times have I seen you sh@ttaco morons screw up. Do you idiots even know basic procedures? Case in point, coming out of GSP this morning. CHQ had no idea who to call for a clearance (had to ask an eagle flt). Couldn't wait the two mins before tower opened and started blabbing away on the radio. Missed two calls from tower on the taxi out and then stepped on four or five aircraft trying to answer the radio. Yea, class act you got there...fu#king dipsh#ts!

You should spend less time listening to the radios and more time making the pilots coffee.

 

[FDJ2]

How many times have I seen you sh@ttaco morons screw up. Do you idiots even know basic procedures?

If the Chautauqua crews were morons, their airline would not have been awarded the ATW Regional Airline of the year award.

The ATW award is based on exemplary service to customers, technology innovation, superior safety record and development of new markets and services.

Just in case you missed that little bit about the award being based on a "superior safety record".

 

[Otto]

As a Comair pilot, I want to say congrats to the guys and gals at ASA. I'm glad to see that at least one of the WO's got the lions share of the new growth. Y'all have waited far too long for deliveries while we've been getting them left and right, not to mention taking over routes in ATL. I'm sure that's been frustrating...seeing another carrier move into your home turf. I apologize for the occasional comment by some folks at my airline making disparaging remarks about ASA and their operation...most of us know that in a few years when we are going through contract negotiations, we will probably see ASA all over Cincinnati. DCI sure seems to spend a lot of time and resources preparing for strike prevention rather than running the most efficient airline don't they? Anyway, congrats again. Regardless of the motive for getting them, weather it's to equal the size of the WO's or to use as negotiating capital against you, as someone said, they are yours to keep...just give 'em hell on the contract!

 

[nimtz]

If the Chautauqua crews were morons, their airline would not have been awarded the ATW Regional Airline of the year award.

The ATW award is based on exemplary service to customers, technology innovation, superior safety record and development of new markets and services.

Just in case you missed that little bit about the award being based on a "superior safety record".

Dude they hand that thing out to just about everyone. My airline won it the year before. We didn't do anything different to earn the award, we just showed up to work. I can guarentee you that CHQ will not win it next year. It's probably Mesa's turn based on the cycle. Anyone that floats this as a sign they work for a superior airline needs to get laid.

 

[bvt1151]

But if you wanna play remember when (And this is for you, Gordon24, dumbass)... well, I remember having a good friend coming home from college a few winters ago getting splattered all over a cornfield in SE Michigan because someone's company didn't train their Brakillya pilots to escape and evade severe icing conditions. Since we've been around for 30 years and NEVER lost a passenger, your bitching about somebody clusterf#cking an early-morning departure from a Class C airport with the tower still closed seems pretty **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**ed stupid. (And pointing fingers and playing "remember when" still sounds dumb, even when I'm the one doing it. Get the point, children?) [/B]

Absolutely tasteless. This is what pi$$e$ me off about CHQ pilots. Unfortunately this attitude seems to have friends there, as well.

 

[TWAER]

Here is the list of who has won it. Comair won it is 90 and 2000. Good for them and good for any American carrier that wins it.


http://www.atwonline.com/events_awards_describe.cfm#REGIONAL


BTW Can we stop all this "I hate this pilot group" crap. Every airline has its bad apples and every pilot has @#cked up at some point. The Comair crash post was over the top and should have never been said. If it came from someone at CHQ, shame on them. But there is no proof it came from anyone other than some flight inst. sitting around on a rainy day. That's the internet for ya.

Fly safe....................

 

[aewanabe]

Absolutely tasteless. This is what pi$$e$ me off about CHQ pilots. Unfortunately this attitude seems to have friends there, as well.

Hey bvt; if you're gonna use a quote to lampoon an entire pilot group, why not use the whole thing instead of taking a sound bite. You know, the first sentence in the paragraph where I said it pisses me off when ANY pilot group bashes another's ability. Or the last one, where I said "see, it even sounds dumb when I do it". It's called using context to make a point. That being said, yeah, the specific example I used is very tasteless. I don't usually stoop that low when I get pissed; and to the vast majority of Comair pilots who are professional and avoid the "you dumbass CHQ guys" BS, I sincerely apologize.

PS What "attitude" has friends over here? The one where we're proud of our safety record after 30 years in business? What the hell's wrong with that?

 

[TWAER]

It just kills you that most people at CHQ are happy. Most of us have a great QOL. Most poeple also don't really care that much about Regional of the year. But you know what, why has Eagle never won it? Because a lot of their pilots are bitter and angry with puting up with AA and sitting FO for years on end. And if you really believe that this is a management award, you must be clueless. Everyone knows management is @#it without the people who do the real work. Did I do anything different last year to get it? NOPE. Will I don anything different this year? NOPE.

 

[Ted Striker]

For Chrissakes.....

OK, OK, we get it. Every company has it's morons. STOP BASHING EACH OTHER. Do you not see that is what Fred Buttrell and the whole DCI portfolio concept is about? Keep them busy fighting amongst themselves so they keep the rifle pointed away from us (mngt.) It's not the pilot's fault/reason they get airplanes and routes. They go to work everyday just like we do, fly the airplane they tell us to and go where they tell us to. I really question the sack of some who stand on the sideline and say "you should have gotten this or that in your contract, you should have gone on strike." There aren't too many on this board that have "walked the walk", Comair guys in '01 are about the only ones in recent memory. I sometimes wonder about my pilot group, how we are going to do when push comes to shove. Are any of us starting to save for a potential strike? I hope so. You can run your mouth all you want, but you better be ready to step and back it up. Focus our energy on backing each other up and unity instead of calling names. We're all just squirrles trying to get the DCI nut (I don't like the way that sounds!) Fly safe.

 

[embraerjetpilot]

The Comair guys are really starting to sound like the eagle guys!

 

[Oakum_Boy]

"Maybe it is because the Comair guys deice at the first sign of a snowflake!

HOw many times Ive seen Comair Deice when there was barely a flurry and they were on the ground for 15 minutes... Oh, oops..i doubt they do 15 minute turns either."


Uh, maybe they picked up some ice on descent. Maybe a little on the tail that you cannot see. They cannot take off with it there, irrespective of whether or not you think they need it.

Please get in the books and consider safety above 'looking good' before you become an "almost captain"... Thanks...

 

[sabreliner]

When are IDIOTS like you going to realize that us MOFO's at CHQ had nothing to do with any decisions that were made. We show up and fly the planes PERIOD!! How bout blaming the MOFO's at DAL for making the decision. Get a life...............

Please excuse the rantings of some of my fellow pilots. However, I must say that for myself and several others, having CHQ come in and take over most of our Brasilia flying was a bit of a slap in the face.

Before you guys showed up with the A/C that America West dumped, I was a Brasilia Captain. Then, CHQ shows up, and now some other guy is sitting in what was my Captain seat, while I'm an F/O again and had my pay hacked. All while the CHQ guy is flying a jet for about the same rate on a new contract that I was getting on a 4 year old contract in my turbo prop.

Please tell me how why shouldn't annoy me that I was replaced by a lower bidder to fly roughly the same number of seats to the same cities??? Not like I really would expect you guys to refuse the flying or anything.

 

[FDJ2]

I don't believe the award was based wages or quality of life was it? It's an award for management; your award is your contract. Not exactly Regional Airline of the Year in that respect....

No its not, it's based partly on a superior safety record , which you don't get by having "moron" pilots. More specifically:

The ATW award is based on exemplary service to customers, technology innovation, superior safety record and development of new markets and services.

The Chautauqua pilots professionalism and efficiency played a big part in both customer service and maintaining a superior safety record.

 

[TWAER]

You have every right to be upset. But do it in a professional way. Send nasty letters to Management at CHQ and DAL. Pitting pilot against pilot seems a little stupid to me. But hey that's me.

Good luck.

 

[sleepy]

any thoughts on where we're gonna park them things?

They will be for the new ASA crew base in CVG.

 

[sleepy]

Chautauqua was voted the best Regional Airline of the Year, it therefore comes as no surprise that they would get additional jets and flying at DCI.

Delta Connection Carrier Chautauqua Airlines Named Air Transport World Regional Airline of the Year
Monday January 26, 11:29 am ET


ATLANTA, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Delta Connection would like to congratulate Chautauqua Airlines for receiving the 2004 Air Transport World (ATW) Regional Airline of the Year award.

"The ATW award is a great honor, and Delta Connection is proud to have Chautauqua as part of our portfolio of quality regional airlines," said Fred Buttrell, president and chief executive officer of Delta Connection, Inc. "Chautauqua joined Delta Connection in November 2002, and has been a valuable addition to the DCI family, allowing us to further expand our geographic reach with a high quality product into key markets."

The ATW award is based on exemplary service to customers, technology innovation, superior safety record and development of new markets and services. The award began in 1974, and has become one of the most coveted and valued honors a company or a person in the airline industry can receive."


I'm also glad that ASA got a large part of the additional flying, since they apparently don't have a problem hiring furloughed ALPA pilots, unlike the CMR pilots. That should provide more job opportunities for furloughed ALPA pilots who would like to keep flying while retaining their contractual recall rights. I'm not sure, but don't Skywest and Chautauqua hire furloughed pilots too, without forcing them to resign their contractual recall rights? If so, than all the better.

News for you. We have all been Regional Airline of the Year. Both ASA and Comair have. I think everybody has been it at least once, except Mesa.

 

[MoMiller]

Soooooo......does anyone have any thoughts or inside info on where new flying will be, or if CHQ will be getting any new bases, i.e., DFW, etc.?

 

[ASADFW7]

Most web boards have rules and restrictions on flaming and blasting another airline. I thought this topic was about DCI's allocation of 2005 deliveries. This forum has continually sunken to new levels each week.

 

[jetstream]

I've been reading messages on this board for a year now and this is my first post. The one thing that always amazes me is that any thread that goes on for very long eventually turns into a bunch of bickering. Reasonable, intelligent people should be able to exchange ideas and opinions even if they don't agree. Some of you need to learn that launching into a personal attack is not the way to deal with someone who happens to disagree with you.

Also, stop blaming individual pilot groups for the decisions made by management. We're all out there just trying to make a living and do the best we can.

 

[Cardenal]

TWAER:

I apologize for my use of language such as @%$## when referring to CHQ pilots. I know the real enemy to us at ASA and CMR is portfolio fred. You, at CHQ, are just the enemy du jour, because in fact (like others have already pointed out ad nauseam) you have a crappy contract that undercut us. Not you, TWAER, personally. I know. And the "du jour" part of my comment comes from the awareness that MESA or god knows who else will continue to do what they do so well (insert sarcastic tone of voice here).

And, frankly, I believe that all DCI flying should be done by ASA/CMR, exclusively (and as a single company), and that any new pilot positions come from furloughed Delta dudes, who keep their DAL #'s.

In other words, be as one, and take care of our own.

A CHQ aircraft in DFW or MCO is anathema to these beliefs.

Fraternally,

Cardenal