Surprise surprise! But FYI, I happen to think a 757 CO captain should be ahead of me, even though he was hired at CO after I was hired at UA. He brings it to the table, he has every right to keep his expectations. God bless him for making a better choice or being at a better place at a better time than I was. No hard feelings. How about that! Consistency. You should try it some time.
But don't you fret... CO and UA pilots have already worked out most of the details. That I know for fact, from the horses mouth. they bring a lot to the table as do we. It will be a very equitable integration. Jealous?
Really.....
It looks like the CAL pilots would disagree. From a CAL pilot;
To all -
It may interest you that my friends who fly for American Airlines think that most Continental pilots must be thinking we would clean United pilots' clocks in a merger. Like me, they think it is a miracle that United even survived 3.5 years in bankruptcy. We also believe that unless fuel prices drastically decrease and the economy rapidly improves, it is doubtful UAL could make it on their own to year end 2008 without another, likely terminal BK filing.
I know that I do not personally expect a windfall, but I certainly do not expect that our pilots should come out short as a result of a merger either. A quick conversation or email exchange with a member of our Merger Committee should convince you that our case is extremely strong.
IMHO, UAL pilots and their MEC should be scared to death of an arbitration, which gives CAL pilots tremendous leverage.
Some facts:
We have over 100 firm orders and another 100 options to their 0.
We have not been bankrupt in over 16 years; they (barely) emerged from BK after 3.5 years, less than 2 years ago.
We just lost $80 million in Q1 '08 to their half a billion +.
Our 737-800 rates are higher than their 767 rates.
Our 737-300/500 rates are higher than their 737-800-sized A320 rates.
Our 767 and 777 rates are higher than their 777 and 747-400 rates.
We have more retirements sooner.
We have many 3rd year captains; their junior captain was hired in 1998.
We have an exceptionally talented and experienced Merger Committee.
etc, etc