Airtran 717s to fly for Delta?

[BR715]

First it was welcome to the family and now it's hope you have some ironclad language and contract. You people are unbelievable.

 

[texman]

First it was welcome to the family and now it's hope you have some ironclad language and contract. You people are unbelievable.

Brother we don't even know if it is true or not. I had a great conversation with a AT captain and the Delta/717 option was brought up to me. He asked if this went down what I thought. I said well the planes go and you guys come over here. He said that in your (AT) contract you have a fragmentation clause that is in your CBA, SWA has to honor. The cool thing, if I was in your shoes would be I have a option to going to two great carriers. The people I have encountered from AT are great. I see you guys having a better time over at SWA. I actually want to bid the 717. It would be fun to fly. We are pilots and can not control what the MGT does with the airplanes.

What I see happening is the 717 goes to Delta and we take their 737-800 orders and you guys get over here quicker.

 

[C601]

.... only so much you can say on a public forum.


Yes that "meeting" did take place and I am a horrible story teller, but I was right as mentioned a few weeks ago that SW would not keep the 717s.

 

[StopNTSing]

What texman said...

Everybody just chill out! The fAT guys aren't going anywhere, regardless of what happens to those pesky 717s. If they're going to Delta, it will probably involve a swap with future (and maybe some current) Delta 737s. Just like the 717s weren't all coming to SWA overnight, they won't be going elsewhere overnight either.

 

[ASADFW7]

As just a line pilot, I too think nothing happens overnight. I wouldn't put a lot of hope either way into rumors. The Airtran pilots are SWA pilots on our seniority list. We voted and signed it.

 

[cocknbull]

If I was an AirTran 717 guy I would hope for Delta. I mean seeing how Delta would just offer relative seniority, over half of these guys would be Captains or senior FOs. Vince Garland, Delta Captain... Has a nice ring to it. Hire date 1993. Seniority number 2. Sound good General?

Relative seniority for relative company. Air Tran is not relative to Delta.

 

[DonVerita]

The point that seems to be missing in this discussion is - the protection of ATN 717 Captain seats.

The Transition Bid sorted out who was going where. For the 737 CA's (which was the group that got hosed the most), they could bid to go to SWA F/O and be on SWAPA contract once they got there - or - they could bid to stay on the ATN side of the partition as 717 CA's and when they go to SWA, they would go with the plane and retain their CA seat. SWA pay would kick in on 1-1-2015, but their seat was protected an no SWA pilot could kick them out of it. The only way a SWA pilot could get on the 717 at all would be through a vacancy. Truth be told, a lot of guys bid this way to protect their CA seats indefinately. Their bid award says TBA 717 CA. "TBA" means base assignment. SWA had already come out with a Tampa base announcement for sometime in 2014. So when guys bid in the Transition Bid, they were bidding (and awarded) a 717 CA seat (98% were already holding CA on the 717 or 737) with the base to be in either ATL or TPA. People made critical family and financial decisions based on this information.

There are two questions here:

1. If the 717's go to Delta and the pilots go with them (it would take a large transfer rate for that to happen by the way), do those 717 CA's get DOH or better and hold their CA seats on the 717 when they get to Delta?

2. If the 717's go to Delta but the pilots go to SWA as originally planned, how are those 717 CA seats protected over at SWA since those pilots bid for, and were awarded, CA seats?

The ATN pilots have been through enough of an upheaval with this SLI. There is no reason why a 717 CA should all of a sudden now lose his CA seat after it was already awarded to him, just because Management has another mood swing regarding the 717.

 

[Crash Pad]

I was wondering how long it would take someone to figure out the Captain seats.

 

[Max Powers]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[Cometman]

The point that seems to be missing in this discussion is - the protection of ATN 717 Captain seats.

The ATN pilots have been through enough of an upheaval with this SLI. There is no reason why a 717 CA should all of a sudden now lose his CA seat after it was already awarded to him, just because Management has another mood swing regarding the 717.

That is life son. Nothing is forever. If the 717 goes so does the seat. You hold what you can hold on the 737. If you think you will automatically go to the SWA side and keep the seat you are dreaming. What you are saying is, if that happens you would be entitled to the seat for the rest of your career. It will never happen. The only thing that is a guarantee is DEATH. And that will be forever.