Wow, saying that replacing AT Captains seats with SWA f/o's as something to cheer for and "everyone should be happy" is pretty weak, to say the least.
Is that part of the "warrior spirit"
Hey Dan,
For someone who goes on and on about how he doesn't hold any bad feelings about SWA or its pilots, you sure have a hard time restraining yourself when it comes to bad-mouthing, picking, or generally pot-stirring, on every issue dealing with Southwest and its pilots' doings.
Capt Chase was writing to his constituency, which consists of SWAPA pilots, not Airtran ALPA pilots. That's who he represents. That's his job. And right now, a lot of his constituency, especially junior folks, are mad about lack of growth and upgrades. His comment was to THEM, not to Airtran people that he doesn't represent. And it was simply that due to a
management decision, SOME of the upgrades that were coming anyway at the expense of Airtran pilots, due to global seniority, appear to be coming somewhat sooner than expected. What did you expect him to say to them?
What if the situation was the opposite, and GK announced we were keeping the 717s even longer, and that former Airtran guys kept those positions longer? (or some other business decision that benefited the Airtran guys) Would you give Airtran ALPA crap if they sold it to their members as good news? Somehow I doubt it.
Regardless, this was a management decision. SWAPA didn't make any sublease deal with Delta. GK did. In a later post, you insinuated that SWAPA "knew this was coming," and further, that it was information that Airtran didn't have. You don't know
crap. You seem to have conveniently forgotten that SWAPA had signed off on a previous SLI deal that would have guaranteed former Airtran CAs their seats in perpetuity. The fact is, that managemnent pulls the strings, and
both sets of pilots knew that the 717s leaving early was not only a possibility, but something that GK wanted. Certainly you remember Southwest AND Airtran pilots having this very discussion on Flight Info before the SLI was signed. SWAPA pilots wanted that to happen, and Airtran pilots (esp 717 guys)
didn't want it to happen. That's the only real difference.
I'm not commenting on the "fairness" or any other way of looking at management's decision. It wasn't up to me, and it personally doesn't affect me much. However, I know that as it sits now, there will be a lot of upset people who ARE affected. Obviously, there will have to be some negotiation (due to the new timeline vs. the one signed in the SLI agreement). Hopefully, something can be done to mitigate the loss of what was expected to those affected Airtran pilots. I don't know what, but I hope something will be worked out.
In the meanwhile, while we see how all this plays out, why don't YOU shut your trap, and stop trying merely to piss off, and to pit two pilot groups against each other,
neither of which had any hand in making this decision. Fair enough? Your theory of a SWA-SWAPA conspiracy to screw over the Airtran pilots is pretty stupid--neither the SWAPA pilots nor the ALPA pilots had a say in the decision to get married in the first place, nor in this current decision to get rid of the 717s.
Bubba
