Comair pilots ready to strike Monday

BANGOR – Unless Comair can come to terms with its pilots union by Monday morning, the airline may have its wings clipped by a strike that could disrupt travel plans for as many as 300 people looking to fly in and out of Bangor International Airport.

The strike also would disrupt Comair flights serving the Portland International Jetport. Comair is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines.

Jim Evans, a spokesman for the Airline Pilots Association, or ALPA, said Thursday that the pilots union and Comair are very far apart on the terms of a new contract for the airline’s 1,300 pilots. Among the sticking points are pilots’ wages, retirement plans and work schedules, Evans said. A settlement offer made by the airline was rejected Monday by more than 99.5 percent of Comair’s unionized pilots.

The specific terms of the agreement sought by the ALPA haven’t been revealed. “All of the major issues have not been addressed,” Evans said. “The pay is substantially less than at the major airlines. We are a major airline.”

Comair serves more than 8 million passengers per year and flies more than 110 50-seat regional aircraft to 95 cities in the United States, Canada, the Bahamas and Mexico. Spokespeople for both sides of the labor dispute said there was no way to estimate how long a strike, if approved, could last.

Efforts by Comair to negotiate a settlement on issues such as pilot pay and retirement programs have been less than wholehearted, Evans said. “There have been more attempts to negotiate in the media than at the bargaining table.”

But Nick Miller, spokesman for the Cincinnati-based airline, said Thursday that Comair’s latest offer to the pilots union would have made Comair’s pilots the highest paid among all regional air carriers. He also dismissed the notion that Comair pilots should be paid according to the salary terms of pilots at major airlines such as Delta, American and United.

“We fly 50-seat regional jets,” Miller said. “This was an industry-leading contract offer.” Among the points of Comair’s offer, Miller said, was a $100,000 per year salary offer for captains and a 142 percent increase in pay for first officers. In addition, the company offered an enhanced 401(k) plan and a fully funded retirement program. The company also offered a lump-sum payment to compensate for a period of time worked at Comair at the prior wage level, Miller said.

Evans questioned the validity of the numbers released by Comair, saying the airline had not shared any enhanced pay scales with the union but had turned them over to members of the media. “We haven’t been able to come up with those numbers on our own,” Evans said. “I would highly question those numbers and be very skeptical of them.”

Evans also expressed frustration with the 142 percent pay raise figure Comair said it would offer to first officers. Evans said that while the overall budget for first officer salaries might be increased under the latest offer, not all of the first officers would have received the same raises. He reiterated his concern that Comair might be releasing numbers before sharing them with the union in negotiations.

“They have not addressed our concerns, especially at the bargaining table,” Evans said. “We haven’t seen those figures in any formal proposal, so how are we supposed to negotiate with that?”

A mandatory 30-day “cooling-off period” between the time an airline union votes to go on strike and the time it is allowed to do so will expire Monday morning. Miller said the airline would be forced to cancel all flights if the union walks out at 12:01 a.m. Monday.

Both Miller and Evans said they would be working to resolve the dispute by Monday, and could decide jointly to avoid a strike should they believe major progress was being made. “We do believe we can get an agreement within that time frame,” Evans said.

Jeff Russell, marketing director for BIA, said Thursday that Comair passengers worried about having their flights canceled would be taken care of by either Comair or Delta. In many cases, Russell said, they will be offered seats on another airline.

“Come to the airport and get accommodated,” Russell said. “They need to reaccommodate you if they are canceling your flight. There should be plenty of capacity here at Bangor, so readers shouldn’t let Delta push them down the road to Boston” to get reassigned to another flight.

Peter Ramsay, spokesman for Bangor-based Main 1 Travel, said his clients had inquired about the status of their Comair flights. Ramsay said it is hard to reschedule a flight before a strike because it is subject to an automatic $100 change fee and any difference in fares between the two dates.

In the event of a strike, Ramsay said, Comair passengers should try to remain calm and work with the people at the ticket counter to get assigned to a different airline. “You’ve got to be relaxed,” Ramsay said. “Don’t be angry at the counter. If you walk up angry, you get nothing.”

Ramsay also said that an airline’s obligations to its customers during a strike are slightly different from those during cancellations for storms or mechanical problems. In essence, passengers have no right to a hotel room or a meal voucher if they wait long hours in an airport during a strike, Ramsay said. “You can conceivably sit in an airport for six or seven hours, and they do not have to compensate you,” Ramsay said.

Miller said Comair was trying to minimize the impact of the strike to its customers, and urges people preparing for a Comair flight on Monday to check the company’s Web site at www.comair.com or call (800) 354-9822 for flight information and negotiation updates. Miller said all Comair passengers will need to carry their paper tickets with them in order to be assigned to another carrier in the event of a strike.