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American Connection?

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Ravengirl

Sierra Whiskey!
Joined
Nov 25, 2001
Posts
211
I may be out of the loop here...but I was returning home from BDL last night on American...and while paging through the back of American Way magazine, I noticed that American now has something called American Connection. Is this supposed to be something like Eagle but with shorter flights? I hadn't heard this before, so I'm curious. Thanks for any replies.

Ravengirl
 
American Connection used to be known as Trans World Express(Trans States).
 
American Connection jets are operated by Chautauqua out of STL and the t-props are TSA.This deal was cooked up by AMR and CHQ mgt.,old hands at ignoring contracts.AMR wants to use "force majeur" to void TSA's jet contract,but oddly enough,not CHQ's.Meanwhile,AE pilots are on the street.It's a dirty business.
 
that explains a few things

Sounds sinister to say the least. Thanks for the enlightenment, guys.

Ravengirl
 
Bluestreak-

Are you suggesting that Eagle should take over all the flying done by TSA, CHQ, and Corporate to get their pilots off furlough?

It is too bad Eagle still has people on furlough, but so do the companies that were flying TWExpress and have now become American Connection.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression that prior to the downturn, Eagle wanted out of the less than 50 seat market, especially turboprops. Maybe it is bending the rules to use 45 seat EMB aircraft to get around that agreement, but Eagle did make that decision.
 
I can't speak for bluestreak, but I don't think any Eagle pilot wants another group out of work. What we do want is for the company to follow our contract. Before 1997, Eagle was four seperate carriers. The company would expand one group and furlough another group. Captain upgrades for some carriers were as long as 7 - 8 years, while another was less than a year. In 1997, Eagle signed a contract - I am sure you have all heard about it by now, as it is infamous - no strike, 16 years long, etc. Along with it was our flow through to AA and getting all four of those carriers on the same seniority list. The seperation of the four carriers, from talking to the old salts, was the main cause of most problems at Eagle, pre-1997. Also in that contract was a provision, though written poorly, that all feed for AA would be flown by pilots on the American Eagle seniority list. This is not happening now. The only solution to this, in my opinion, is another merge of airlines to AE. This puts Eagle pilots into another spin, as we just had a merge with Business Express in the last few years which put lots of pilots here 350 numbers behind and an extended turn in the right seat as Bizex got straight seniority merged.
Who knows what will happen as I am sure the company will try to seek relief under the premise of 9/11. This all started long before 9/11, however.
While no Eagle pilot (that I know of) holds any malice towards TSA or Chataqua, we are trying to keep the wicked whipsaw from reappearing. That will drive a stake through all our groups (and indeed, our carreers) and not help any of us. The only solution, morally, and legally to all of this that I can see is a merge. Then again I am just a lowly line puke.
I can only hope that all the pilots out there get off furlough soon and things begin to normalize. good luck to all.
 
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Ah,yes...Well,I'm somewhat of a expert on furloughed pilots-Myself and 124 others were terminated,not "furloughed" from CHQ October 1st.How would you feel as a furloughed Eagle pilot,seeing your own company farm out flying to another company,while you're on the street ? Just like my CHQ brethren that saw the Saab flying go to Shuttle America. Wexford owns CHQ and Shuttle America,and Bedford moaned we were losing money on the Saab flying,however,SA must have some magic that allows them to be profitable where we couldn't.Same airplanes,same paint job-so what is it ? Any reason CHQ couldn't fly those routes ? None,except our pay scales were higher.AMR now owns TWA,so who should those routes go to ? It's not like they have a shortage of crews at AE.I would love to return to CHQ,but not at the expense of the Eagle pilot group.
 
Just a clarification....because I know this is an old can of worms and we have fought this fight on the message boards for going on 4 months now.

Here is the press release.
Meanwhile, American has asserted its force majeure rights as a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks to void its regional jet agreement with St. Louis-based Trans States Airlines...........Trans States in June had signed a memorandum of understanding that called for the delivery of 10 ERJ-140s by the end of last year but, according to an American spokesman, the company sought to renegotiate its RJ deal with Trans States as a result of the industry recession since September 11. TSA will continue to fly turboprop connections for American, as will Corporate Airlines, according to the spokesman.

First It voided our ORIGINAL RJ contract (the one that started in JUNE, see above) because AMR wanted us to take a huge operational cost cut that would leave us basically operating at cost (at least this is what management tells us), Hulas thought the economics were bad and said NO and decided to wait it out and delay our jet program until the Industry gets better. It states that they are now seeking to renegotiate a new Jet contract (see above). CHQ took the hit by keeping the jets because they have deeper pockets and can sustain more losses than TSA.

That being said I understand why the Eagle guys are upset and I don't want anyone out of a job but these were OUR routes and have ALWAYS been our routes. By taking them away from us you put OUR pilots out of work for the sake of yours and that's just like wishing your brother was dead so you can collect his inheritance too.

TSA Pilot
 
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The salient point is that TSA and CHQ shouldn't be flying AA feed at all, unless their pilots are on the AE seniority list. This is a clear violation of the scope clause, even in AE's crap contract.

Once more . . . What's the most important part of a labor contract?
 
Draginass said:
The salient point is that TSA and CHQ shouldn't be flying AA feed at all, unless their pilots are on the AE seniority list. This is a clear violation of the scope clause, even in AE's crap contract.

Thank you, DA. You nailed it. End of string.
 

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