Junior Man - Edited slot to gate - and try getting one at any major North American airport. They are all locked up.
Nothing against AA pilots, one fixes my plane and I ski with a few every year.
I find it sad to see lots of very hard working airline employees getting screwed over. My IR examiner had to go back to work at the FAA after having his USAIR pension stolen. But so have many others in this economy. Piloting a plane is simply not the leveraged position it once was. Nothing to do with the pilots as much as the airline industry. It, like so many others has changed, and it will never be what it was.
The pilot unions have had their heads in the sand for years. They knew the pensions were grossly underfunded but did nothing about it. Asking for 50% increases is more of the same old same old.
I wish the AA pilots good luck, starting with that position they are going to need it.
20driver