Do BA pilots really deserve our support re Openskys?

[bluepilot]

I will try to explain the reason I have started this thread.

Most pilots at an early stage learnt to learn from their mistakes, analyse information and act on it accordingly.

Over the past few years the BA CC have allowed BA management to get away with murder regarding T and C, they have believed that they were working in the interests of their members by “allowing” franchises, BACX , GSS with the small reward of a few commands within some of these companies. What has happened is the BA CC have allowed non BA pilots to fly BA planes for years and years and worse still have severely p**ed off fellow pilot communities as well.

Now BA decide to start openskies, a different company working in different countries but flying bread and butter routes to the USA, the BA CC say no! Not without the pilots being on the mainline list, shout “BA planes BA pilots” but hang on??? non BA pilots have flown BA planes for years, (and before you all jump at me and say AHHH the B757-200 is a BA owned plane remember it was planned to be replaced anyway and is being “sold” to another airline). The sheer arrogance of the BA CC by not insisting that ALL pilots who have flown the flag in the past were on the mainline list has come back to haunt them. The BALPA chairman JM stupidly enraged the non BA pilot community by inferring that this dispute was also about standards and using BA038 as an example. He inferred that if an non BA pilot had been at the controls of that aircraft then the outcome may have been very different!!!! It all boils down to this, the pilots, BA management, BA CC and BALPA are guilty of corporate arrogance.

Now to answer my own question “do BA pilots really deserve our support re Openskys”?
Damn right they do! We all make mistakes and as professional pilots we learn from them, what the BA CC did to BACX , GSS etc was wrong, it not only damaged the pilots in those airlines it severly weakened the BA pilots future case with openskies, they must learn from the past and never ever allow this situation to arise again. As a BALPA member it is my duty to support my colleagues in BA, no they should not fight their own little war and sink with it, but we all need to learn from this BA and non BA members alike, unless we pull together and work together better in the future we will all suffer.

Management have done a good job in dividing the pilot forces, lets not let them conquer us!