I was fairly sure that I had already posted this in this thread but I can't find it now so here it goes again. My feelings would probably be different if I was an ATN pilot but as an outsider looking in here is how I see it. SouthWest Airline straight up bought Airtran. Personally I think with the age and size of the companies being so different the AirTran pilots are lucky that they were offered the deal they got. QOL and pay would have gotten better and yes you may not be as close to upgrade as you were but you just tripled the number of pilots you work with. If I were in a management position at SWA and I had given the ATN group that good of a deal only to be rejected I would have said have it your way you are stapled. I know thats harsh but it wasn't a merger, SWA bought ATN.
I'm not picking on you with this post, Drew, just using it as a springboard for a few points, so don't think I'm aiming this at you, but instead, this entire thread.
There is a very fundamental misunderstanding here that we're mistaking. Us, being pilots, think there is a difference between a "merger" and an "acquisition." While there are companies that "merge," I.E. United and Continental, Delta and Northwest, there is almost always a clear acquiring company. The results are the same for the pilots in any event, because the merger/acquisition language of the scope section of the contract is triggered and will thus be followed accordingly.
So as far as the pilot groups go, very thankfully, the result is going to be the same no matter what, or at least should be. Unless I'm mistaken, and I certainly am mistaken often, especially when I'm so sure about something, the Airtran contract isn't going to differentiate how the pilot group will be treated depending on whether it's a "merger" or an "acquisition." If that was the case, then every company would, of course, acquire new airlines instead of trying to "merge" them, eh?
So with that, there are certain contractual guidelines that must be followed. It doesn't matter what the financial situation is, what the pilot groups think of each other, or anything else. None of what is being discussed in this thread matters one bit. The only thing that matters is the contractually enforcable language. Not what people "think" should be done, or even what "should be" done, but instead, what must be done according to the contract. With that, the rights and responsibilities for each of the affected parties have already been negotiated for, spelled out, and are clearly defined in how they must be executed in this situation PRIOR to it happening. There are obligations on both sides of the contract that must be adhered to, and again, they very thankfully have nothing to do with what anybody thinks of either company.
Further, it concerns me that nobody thinks the AirTran pilot group has any worth. They are, in affect, an asset that has been purchased by another investment group (that happens to make the money off their investments with aircraft). No company would acquire an asset unless it had value. The value that the AirTran pilot group is worth has already been partially determined through their scope language. With that, Southwest knew full well what they were acquiring when they purchased AirTran, and the attendant pilot group. To think that they didn't know what they were purchasing is to fundamentally not understand what is happening here.
You really can't compare this to the Delta/NWA deal either. Delta and NWA airlines worked because they flew similar aircraft, the company sizes were similar, they were both age old companies and the seniority lists were pretty neck and neck when it came to age of pilots and DOH. It worked, from what I understand no one at Delta/ NWA really gained or lost a lot, maybe 5% at the most, the biggest change was doubling fleet size and size of the pilot group. At ATN you have a bunch of younger guys at a young company who are gonna be mixed with an old company with some pretty old and tenured guys. To try and compare the two is apples and oranges.
Airtran should have taken the deal, I don't think they will ever see anything better... While I am on it I think there are two companies in the US that I feel confident will never furlough, those are SWA and Fed Ex. They put their people first.
FedEx has threatened to furlough pilots on a fairly regular basis in the past.
