Flying out of CHS with the wifey-pooh today and had an interesting conversation with a Delta gate agent. She sated that, recently, five Delta "pilot types" had been through visiting the Boeing facility there. She thought it was funny that they had their boss with them and that he was, actually, the youngest one and that it struck here as unusual seeing the others yielding to him.....makes you go hhhmmmmmm.......when I came back from furlough in 2007, the final check in the schoolhouse was done by a Delta dude who had been tapped to go to the 777 program to get experience......according to him, his twin brother was involved in NWA's 787 program. He stated that Delta did not want that version....they REALLY wanted the 787-900.... Better a/c with more seats and long range....it makes since that would be the reason to defer the earlier airframes....just swap them for later -900 when they become available....who knows....maybe there's a great deal since we took all the delays on the earlier version....who is the US launch customer for the 787-900? Inquiring minds and all...now....back to my cartoons.....