Well sailing, we are going to have to disagree here. Sure, the FAA could typically care less what is in our PWA, they care about FAR's. But we operate under both. They interact with each other.

In the past our PWA was constructed so that it was more restrictive or equivalent to the FAR's. You followed the PWA, you by default followed the FAR's. Now the regs have changed, but our contract has not. If you follow the contract, in some cases you may be violating the FAR's. And some parts of our PWA may "trigger" part of the new regs. There are several ways a pilot could be put in a compromising position due to grey areas in our contract that was not constructed with 117 in mind.

Delta and its pilots are at relative peace at this time and I would hope the FAA is flexible enough to know that there will be some innocent mis-interpertations of the rules. This may or may not last. We are still in a learning period with the new rules and while no pilot would knowingly violate a reg, it is a very big grey area if and what is written in the PWA constitutes a requirement vs voluntary event. The obvious general position of scheduling will be that you are OK to fly, and will use the advantageous parts of the PWA to justify it (perhaps even using it with threats of disciplinary action if this peace does not last). Does every scheduler and every pilot know FAR 117 well enough do determine if each assignment is legal? Of course not, and not necessarily because of lack of knowledge, but because it is new and it is impossible to predict every situation.

The PWA is a two way street. It not only lists what the company is required to do for me, but also what I am required to do for the company. My job as a Delta pilot is to follow both the FAR's and the PWA. You can bet if I am not holding up my end of the PWA (in any section) Delta will want to talk to me to find out why. An example is the long call acknowledgement issue. I am willing to bet if I acknowledge every long call trip 3:01 prior (permitted under the PWA) and force the company to pull the trip from my sked (to comply with 117), not only will the company PD the days (per the SD memo), but after this happens a few times they will want a Chief Pilot to have a talk with me. We are pretty sure a grievance would turn out good in that situation, but no outcome is guaranteed.

Sorry I didn't intend to get this involved with this, but the quick and dirty is that the PWA lists what I am required do for my paycheck. The new FAR's put a new emphasis on some of these requirements. The areas where these do not agree is going to make someone (myself, the FAA or the company) not happy. Hopefully DALPA and Delta can come to an agreement on these issues soon so everyone can be on the same page again.