Originally Posted by Going2Baja

I just hope to G O D that if/when we merger/acquire that when talking SLI we talk DOH and not merge a AS/HAL 07 hire next to a PNWA 00'. (Any Merger Committee Types reading this?)
Baja.

Originally Posted by forgot to bid

I show in June 2011 when you counted up the REG and RES lines that we had around 10,516 REG/RES pilots with 708 jets or 14.85 per plane.

In June 2012, with 722 jets, he had 10,537 REG/RES pilots or 14.59 per plane.

In June 2013, with 719 jets, we had 10,446 REG/RES pilots or 14.53 per plane.

Notice a trend?

Originally Posted by FlyZ

I see Qatar was invited to join oneworld (if you can't beat em, join em). So who do you guys think will finish off the rest of DAL's international flying after the Virgins are done with us, Emirates or Etihad?

New capt positions or not, tiny pay raises or not, 757s retired as planned or not, right now it takes 10-15 years to hold the intl line many new hires were holding in '08. For about the same money, and working a little harder.

Someone here predicted a year or two ago that DAL is going to become a mid-range connecting airline, letting RJs do the short stuff and codeshare partners do the big stuff, with DAL pilots scrounging for the transcon redeyes and 767/330 size planes as our "widebodies". I think that's exactly what's happening as there seems to be no interest in expanding intl flying or growing/renewing our dwindling widebody fleet.

Is it possible that RA and EB have already mentally conceded that a Mideast supercarrier will be flying the big planes for DL and that they will pretend to fight it publicly until announcing a codeshare the next day? Do we have ANY say in this? Maybe we should stay a step ahead and push for longevity-based pay now. Because I haven't seen a bid in the last five years (this one included) where a lot of DAL pilots moved from a smaller airplane to a bigger one. I've seen the exact opposite, bid after bid after bid.

P.S. That's one data point..."progressing" from widebody international lineholder to narrowbody domestic reserve during a period of record profitability and market consolidation, where we are arguably five years of the others in that process. If anyone's life has gotten much, much better in the past five years at Delta, I'd like to hear about it. Seriously...because for some maybe it has. And if you ask ALPA, it's gotten much better for all of us.