I emailed one of my reps. Asked about where the idea of CDO's came from. Asked about cost. Here is the reply.

XXXX,

Thanks for the feedback! To be direct, the Negotiators got CDOs because we told them to get CDOs.

Since Flight Time – Duty Time stuff wasn’t addressed in C2012 due to the impending changes to the regs, the feedback and data from that process was combined with some Green Book items (a compilation of previous resolutions and other input). The result was an “opener” for FAR 117 that included CDOs. The direction was to get as much pay/credit for CDOs as possible, and to put restrictions in place to make them the “good” Illegals we remember from NWA days, and not the “bad” ones that always went junior.

We started negotiations PRIOR to 117 being implemented, so adjustments were made to our position after we’d gotten a good handle on how Flight Ops was going to respond to the changes, and more importantly, what areas the pilots wanted us to address. The adjustments were made a couple of months ago, mostly notably to add the PD guys, pull Door Pay, and tweak a few others based upon what we were hearing from the Line. CDOs remained.

After the TA, the MEC had heartburn with the portion of CDOs that would be pay/no-credit, and some concern about other parts that weren’t as restrictive as had been envisioned. The feedback from the pilots was the key, though. Had CDOs remained in the deal, I’m 100% certain the TA would’ve gone to MemRat.

CDOs had some attraction because they paid very well, recaptured some current RJ flying, and were more restrictive than the trips that were popular at NWA. They sucked because not everyone has the ability to “sleep fast” on a quick layover. As you know, that’s one of the biggest reasons why some pilots don’t pursue widebody flying, their inability to sleep on the aircraft inflight.

I can’t and won’t discuss costing. I can tell you that it will cost Delta a lot of money...and north of 125 pilots. The staffing requirement is across all categories, and not just new hires.

Thanks again,

XXXX