Thrust Normal

Chuck Norris?

Columbia

Magnum, P.I.

Scoop

I have always been a big Magnum fan but he just does not have the staying power of Bond or Kirk.

Chuck Norris definitely has the staying power but is an actor not a character. He would probably fare very well if looking for action actors but Clint would get my vote in that category. Hey, that brings another character to mind - Dirty Harry.

Scoop

gloopy

How can they ever do that? The entire reason there is a DCI in the first place is to whipsaw DCI carriers against DCI carriers. There really isn't even any DCI versus Mainline whipsaw anyway, as DCI automatically underbids and gets the work so it comes down to DCI vs DCI.

This has been tried before and never got off the ground. In fact the race to the bottom only accelerated as ACMI providers shoved each other aside to win the next RFP. Pay for training has been replaced with pay for flight time and pay for upgrade. Any DCI carrier that tries to raise the bar in any significant way for any length of time is punished severely. Some contractual gains are seen from time to time, but they are modest and quite often given back before the ammendable date anyway.

RFP's aren't just for growth flying anymore. They are for current flying and the cheapest wins. That DCI carrier at the alliance meeting sitting right next to your guy will underbid your group in a second when the time comes and if he doesn't, you will uderbid him and he knows it.

There is nothing any alliance can do to change the fact that DCI flying is a zero sum game and every plane one carrier gets another carrier doesn't get. There will always be a pilot group willing to "deal management an ace" to get the work. Always. Also from time to time, new DCI carriers will be signed on as well as created from thin air if necessary, where everything is cheaper and everyone is on first year pay.

How will an alliance convince one DCI carrier to overbid another knowing the one that underbid them got the work? How will a DCI alliance stop non DCI airlines from putting in a lower bid? How will it stop new DCI's from being created?

This is a mainline problem and the solution has to be a mainline solution. Mainline and DCI can collaborate to a point, but anything greater than a staple with some reasonable DCI protections is a non starter. Yet even that requires 100% mainline bargaining to secure for it to have any real meaning (scope recapture). Only mainline pilot groups can fix this by reclaiming scope. There is no other way.

NuGuy

Check the date. This was released almost 2 years ago.

Nu

scambo1

Ltes meet and confer on this and see if you and I agree.

Columbia

Dow up over 12,000 on Greek bailout plan. GDP up 2.5%. Glad I didn't go to all cash over a month ago like some on here were doing.
The market always wins.

Bucking Bar

Not true. DCI is the "100 seat" airplane management alleges they've been looking for during the last decade and have been unable to find. As long as we've outsourced jets with MD88 economics we have set a floor of about 142 to 160 seats on what management will fly at mainline.All very true. Not only will the various pilot groups undercut each other from within ALPA (even Comair underbid ASA to steal their flying) but the Teamsters and non union carriers will actively undermine the others.

When the President of ALPA unveiled his alliance plan it was obviously unworkable and destined for instant failure. The same guy touts the advantages in outsourcing for mainline pilots ... .That is the correct conclusion.

Unity is structural. One airline, one bargaining agent, one contract. When any pilot has a problem ALL pilots have a problem.

Bucking Bar

PM sent.

There are some real problems with UHC that threaten the financial security of our pilots. Since we co-insure ourselves you are exposed to WHATEVER rates UHC negotiates with providers. In most cases those rates are lower than standard self pay rates and closer to Medicaid reimbursement (WellStar for instance is allegedly a "non profit" provider). Most of the time we happily see a 70% discount and go about our ways.

But what if UHC decides to enter into a contract which pays much MORE than you would owe otherwise? You will find that under law you owe it. In our case the procedure was billed at just under six times the Medicare rate, which was more than four times UHC's own "usual and customary" rate for non network providers.

UHC is exempt from the laws which regulate insurers, as well as anti trust and consumer protection regulations. A fight with these guys could easily leave a Delta employee bankrupt and given the depth of their abuses there probably are some examples out there to be found.

Thrust Normal

I agree, it's just a sad commentary that Chuck Norris was the first thing that popped in my head.