Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
Saling;
I did more than call the office. I talked to the person responsible for crafting this language face to face, and then via e-mail at length.
If we were at 0, 0 then 49.5 we would have bigger problems to deal with. Under the terms spelled out in MOU 14, once reaching 49.50 it is considered 50-50 and at that point a new measurement period starts. There is no look back for this scenario. They basically have three years to get there since we started at 47.2 with the addition of AZ. Some purport we could go to 0, 0 then be in compliance and that may true, but unrealistic. The bigger game is we get half of the EASK's available going forward.
What George mentions about there being no bottom end compliance right now is as far as I can tell, and as far as I have been told by those who crafted the language, is true, but not likely. We are in the initial three year measurement period with AZ. We are not even in compliance with the new balance. Once that happens what you state is true.
I may disagree with a new measurement period being down via MOU, but this language and how it is implemented is very complex. It involves the DAL marketing agreements with the other JV carriers and then them with us. What this team did was keep a even percentage of EASK's for our pilots. Yes, the corrective window will not happen for a few years, but the long term gains are significant. We have only seen a down side to the capacity since it was drafted, if there is ever an up side, we will profit handsomely. With the profit and loss of the Bundle 1 flying being shared equally, it gives incentives beyond the language in LOA 16 and MOU 14 to keep the flying as close to equal as possible. Each side gets a few city pairs they can opt out of each year, but as a whole the profit loss is shared, and therefore, the execs want the risk and exposure shared equally.
Those are the same execs that we trust with everything else. And without besmirching their motives, efficacy or intent that's exactly why we have a PWA. The fact remains that there is no floor to the percentage of JV flying in our PWA right now.
We have no PWA enforceable production balance share until March 31, 2014
We gave that up to gain an additional 2.8% flying after March 31, 2014.
Note Two in 1.P.4 was a mechanism designed to provide Delta with an incentive to quickly get our share of flying into compliance. That's why it's a one time deal "the first 12-month period." But that same mechanism can be used to delay bringing up our share of flying to 50% without having to make a big gains as is happening right now "the capacity share percentages for all previous years will be disregarded."
We gained one Europe flight SEA CDG. We lost permanently many more city pairs.
This is real. I have made plenty of "phone calls" to any number of reps and insiders, many of them not so simple. I have sent boatloads of emails an crunched numbers for months. I am not making an anti ALPA argument here. But this is what it is. A simple phonecall is insufficient to gather an informed opinion on this issue. I'm just pointing out what is happening. Think of me as the FE on the UAL DC-8 pointing out the diminishing fuel supply as we hold.
Yes, we are "in compliance," and that's exactly why this is so unsat to me.
Cheers
George