Flare Armed

Not necessary,

Not sure who you work for, but most airlines wouldn't meet your standards when posed with the same questions. NWA had pretty decent pay and benefits before 911 and Bankruptcy, and they have a history of fighting for what they want.

Good luck to all...its a jungle out there.

not necessary

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Let's try sticking to the facts:
'last of the majors to go on strike' - when was that Delta strike exactly?

'cowardly to go on strike' - no, but probably ill advised, because when the smoke cleared, what did we win? Our pay rates did not even reach the existing AA rates and AA was reopening their contract. Cowardly in agreeing to a new contract which pays 1979 rates, it's throw the babies to the wolves

'be in a 320 or 757 in the next 6 months' - haven't seen any bids that look like that by June, nor any flight ops forecast of that type of growth, who are you talking with, Pete Moore?&nbsp; Oops, he's gone.

The fact is the NWA contract is not even amendable until 2011, what you have is what you will have for the next 5 years by the time the dust settles.

The fellow wanted facts to compare/contrast NWA/CAL.&nbsp; CAL is voted best place to work over many years; NWA's nickname is cobra.&nbsp; Let's look at all the facts.

Yeah, in the end he will move to MSP because that's what he wants to do; he also asked for a variety of views.

The level of discourse here needs to be a bit more professional and factual. Please remove your finger from my eye.

Eric Stratton

you need to look at the other pay rates and not just the 12 year capt.
airtran capt. is only greater at the 8-12 years and the fo rate is only greater at year 1 and that's after the paycuts. wasn't their last contract proposal "cost neutral".

can you tell me what exactly makes continental be voted "best place to work". my buddys over their wouldn't say it was.

Eric Stratton

Do you actually have an interview at CAL yet? I know a few guys that have 10+ letters and haven't gotten the call.

I would bet that the short upgrade will start getting longer because they have hired about 1000 pilots since that guy who held it at 2 years.

have you ever put a timeline to commuting? how much time is lost each week, month, year and career and don't just count the time in the air. (hour before the commute, commute, sitting around waiting for show, going the night before, waiting for flight home weather delays canceled flights) you might be surprised at how much it is. what are the costs? (crashpads/hotels)

interview prep...turn the Flight Director off and take the HSI out of arc mode if you have it and hand fly it while not cheating. (looking outside) that's basic prep for any interview.

ewrbasedpilot

Your buddies probably wouldn't be happy anywhere. CAL is a great place to work. It's like anywhere else........it's all in what you put into it.

johnso29

I guess thats the mentality "nothing new" needs to take. CAL may be great for you, but it won't be great for everyone. Its good that you're happy there, but that doesn't mean everyone will be. I can think of a lot of people that would NOT vote CAL to be the best place to work. I also know some people that would, its not everybodys place to be.

johnso29

How many times has Continental lead in pay?

The point is the industry is cyclical and unpredictable. You don't have a crystal ball and don't know how it will be 10-20 years from know.

Management teams coming and going is modern day corporate america. Take their money and run.

Eric Stratton

that is a cop out answer in my opinion and I'm not trying to be rude. What is it about CAL that makes them worthy of being called one of the best places to work. one thing that I think should be an automatic disqualifier is that you had to take pay cuts. I don't know how any company (airline or not and this isn't just an airline category list) should be classified a "best" when your entire company has to take paycuts. If you had gotten them back then you could be considered but what is it about continental that you think is deserving of a best place to work.

757Driver

Spoken like a true management-type wanna-be. C'mon Karl, it sucks right now to be a Continental Pilot. We were nowhere near bankruptcy yet we have a WORSE contract than Delta.

Wonder how that happened??? Oh yeah, 52% of our Pilots bought into the company's line of BS and voted yes on a contract that wasn't even finished and had blank sections that were filled in later by management.

For any potential new-hires out there, we still have over 7-800 scabs here and their mentality has seeped right into a good majority of the pilots here, (52% to be exact).

ExAF

The best one would be the one that actually hires you. Get a line number somewhere and then make your decision if it comes to that. A couple of recs and an interview is still a long way from a job and even further from a decision between 2 carriers. If it does come to a decision between the two and you want to live at MSP, I would have to say NWA. My recommendation is biased because I've had to commute before and learned that I am not cut out for commuting. I would trade a lot not to commute. The difference in pay and work rules at CO isn't enough to trump the "no commute" card. After all, NWA has nowhere to go but up. Then again, a merger could screw it all up. The best answer won't be known until you hit age 60/65. If you have specific questions, feel free to PM me. Cheers and good luck.