Originally Posted by
shoelu
OK, maybe I am naive, but isn't the easy answer to require ALPA approval of all future: JV/Codeshare/Revenue Sharing/Cabotage/Foreign Ownership etc? It seems completely impossible to write comprehensive contractual language to cover every eventuality. There needs to be some way to look at each individual proposal and how it effects the seniority list at Delta. Is giving ALPA a say in the process something that management would never agree to? Is it something that simply would never fly with management?
Our Achilles heel is the
current PWA language permitting 175 seats(or 50%) on every foreign jet if we have four flights/week to their country...
We opened the hole...
Now we need to plug it.
The problem with all these agreements is not the initial bilateral agreement but how Delta then combines them with other JV/codeshare/dci agreements to operationally benefit, but at the detriment to the intent of each individual agreement.
Over Simplified Example:
DCI = more big delta jets by providing feed from places you don't want to fly.
AK = more big Delta jets to Asia and Australia, we can't make money on the west coast anyways
AFKLM JV = More big jets across the Atlantic more smaller Delta jets flying the Dutch and French to BHM
VA JV = We need a partner or the LAX SYD flight is toast
Each one of these agreements individually promises to provide a benefit to Delta pilots.
But what happens when Delta decides to feed AFKLM with AK?
Delta still gets money because the AFKLM JV is "metal neutral."
It doesn't matter what it says on the side of the jet, the JV parties simply pool then split the profits.
Delta get money from the AFKLM JV profit
AS gets revenue from the codeshare passenger
Who is missing here?
But what happens when Delta decides to feed AFKLM with DCI?
Delta get money form the AFKLM JV profit
DCI gets paid to fly Delta passenger.
The only saving grace is that on their side of the pond, we benefit from their regionals...
Ironically the straight codeshare, should be the most benign out of all of these. but because we don't have language that requires reciprocity, many of our code-shares are asymmetric...
Instead of I scratch your back, you scratch my back, you have Hawaiian using JetBlue in NYC to provide feed for flights to the islands, China Airlines our Skyteam partner using Virgin America in LAX to connect passengers on to US destinations...Virgin Australia codesharing with Alaska to provide feed for LAX...
Anyone can show you metrics how each individual agreement benefits the Delta pilots. We have no measurements on how combining these agreement affects us.
Cheers
George