Originally Posted by
Ferd149
FlyZ
What Herkflyr said. Also, remember, you merged with a mature pilot group (didn't have a rush for the door with our pension) where international went at least the 5 year point (my crappie memory but that is a conservative estimate). Also, our junior international guys were on the 757 flying Asia (me) because the Whale and DC-10 Second Officers made more $$ than ANY narrow body copilot........and thus slightly more senior (in general, yes some guys wanted to FLY and ignored the money).
As you know, what guys do and don't fly is always convoluted by wants, desires and interests..............but you being an international guy out of the box at Delta was a stroke of luck/timing probably never to be seen again. It had nothing to do with combining the ER and domestic categories, that happened post merger.
I always wondered why the 76ER went so junior back then as well. I asked a good friend of mine (retired from AF) who was a new hire then, why he didn't bid the 767ER instead of the MD88 in NYC.
He said, "I'd be stuck on reserve forever, and might even get displaced off it, and have to go to 88 school anyway." Many of the new hires with longer commutes (he lives in TX) bid the 88 over the ER, in an attempt to move up to line holder sooner, making their life a little better than living in a crash pad in NYC 19 days a month.
I heard they actually had to ASSIGN the right seat of the NYC 76ER to some of the new hires coming out of training, due to that same reason. I also heard we had a couple newbs divert over the North Atlantic, while the Capt. was on break, when they were trying to upload new winds in the FMS and got the (standard) "insufficient fuel" message! The story goes, one of the F/A's woke the Capt. and asked him why they just turned 90 degrees off course!
I head not long after that incident, the FAA told Delta to stop putting new hires in the right seat of the ER!