I think we all understand that the Narita hub is gone, as is that flying.

The way I understand it though, (which could be completely wrong) is that DALPA has been trying to modify our scope language to reflect the shift in flying and contain the growth of our JV partners at our expense, but management has been unwilling to do so.

I don’t want Delta to needlessly operate empty aircraft on unsustainable routes, but I also don’t like watching other airlines operate JV routes that we are capable of flying and watching our International flying decrease while our JV partners are taking delivery of shiny new wide bodies and flying our passengers around the globe.

If you believe our management, Korean out negotiated our management team and they want to do all the flying. We were lucky to hang on to any of it. That was the story they gave of China Eastern, and I believe Korean as well. If you came from the regionals, this is the same whipsawing game you saw there, only with bigger equipment. Korean, AF/KLM, Virgin crews are cheaper than Delta crews, so if the execs at the various airlines can get the flights done with cheaper crews, they all make more money. And I don’t know about you, but my profit sharing check isn’t nearly big enough to offset the loss of our wide body fleet for the last several years of my career. (Even if I had no hope of ever holding widebody A, I’d still feel the same way. I don’t want to sound like it’s all about me.)

The good news for you, if you have any desire to be a wide body pilot here some day, is that most of the pilot group aren’t as easily fooled.