Originally Posted by
1234
Your posts looks to me like it was pretty competitive when you were hired. Cream of the crop even. You were hired under the current contract and in the last 1.5 years, you have gotten a 4% raise with profit sharing. Apparently our current contract was enough to get you and all of the other highly qualified applicants to join the ranks as Delta pilots. I am just wondering what has changed in the last year and a half that requires a major change in pilot compensation to get qualified candidates?
As Whidbey pointed out, 2 guys in my new hire class have already left for SWA. If we have a poor contract, more will leave for FedEx, UPS & SWA, along with some foreign carriers. Back in 2010 Delta was one of the few companies hiring, but in the next few years every company will be hiring as retirements kick in.
Most of us, myself included, anticipated a significant contract improvement in 2012 following the highly successful DAL-NWA merger and good profits in a down economy. I was also impressed with the fact that DAL did not furlough back in 2008 when oil was $147/barrel.
If the company does not compensate its pilots appropriately, then DAL will experience a pilot supply issue in the future.