Originally Posted by Herkflyr

Timbo provided and excellent history lesson, but let's not forget the other side of the "good ol days." Ideally we restore the good and permanently discard the bad.

1. Pre 1996 the DAL pilots didn't have the jumpseat, even on their own airline!

2. In the 80s reserve was perpetual 24/7 short call for all the days you were on the hook! That can't happen now due to FAR 117. Still when I got hired 19 yrs ago your first day on reserve was automatic short call at 0300. To be fair with the old move up system you could often minimize the number of days you were on reserve.

3. As well as I did with our old Line of Time system I wouldn't want to go back. No vacation slide and no bidding for CQ. My last two sessions of CQ that were scheduled the old way (ie the company scheduled you and you couldn't bid on any CQ patterns) were almost comical in how much it screwed up my personal home life.

4. The biggest thing of all is that reserves were paid far less for the same trip as a regular line holders in the other seat. This was literally fixed two years ago with our FAR 117 side letter! It was a tremendous accomplishment, that many DALPA haters dismiss as if it were nothing.

I just like to point out both sides of the issues, because there usually are at least that many.