Originally Posted by
KeaauFlyer
Very true. When all those very senior DL pilots retired, a lot of not-so-senior people moved up in the pecking order to better aircraft, better bidding rights for scheduling, etc. Now they don't want to give that up so that NW pilots (whose pensions were better protected in bankruptcy) can retain their seniority. I won't presume to say what is fair since both sides have some good points. The DL pilot's union has a history of brinksmanship and holding out until very late in the game before becoming serious about compromising. I can remember those guys doing "informational picketing" about a possible strike at ATL at a time when the very existence of DL was in question. (That got some jeers from passing PAX.) In fairness, it could be said that the NW guys want to hold on to their pensions and their seniority, too. This should be interesting.
The Northwest pilots are the one's who are most worried about this. While they would have the most seniority, most of these very senior pilots will retire in the next 5 years, leaving the vast majority of Northwest pilots frozen behind a very large number of Delta pilots. The Northwest pilots agreeded to binding arbitration and the Delta pilots refused.