Originally Posted by C-17 Driver

I was in the loony holding pattern, standard turns, for 41 days. I understand your frustration. My advice is to hope for the best, and prepare for the worst. Hopefully, you have a few other irons in the fire.

I do not know how they conduct the review board other than they look at ALL the data. When you are cleared by the board, you get thrown back in the mix. By that I mean that they will resume the process. They likely have not looked at anything at all and have not conducted a background check yet. That will take a while and it will be a few more weeks before you get the call for a class date. Unfortunately, when you are in the holding pattern, they just put your entire package to the side and don't look at it until the board meets and gives the thumbs up or down. Essentially, the 2 1/2 weeks you have been waiting can turn into almost 3 months before you get into a class. I'm not trying to throw a turd in your punch bowl by telling you this. I just wish I had an idea of how long it was going to take when I was put in the holding pattern.

I was hired at UAL and CAL while I was in the pool. When Brian B. at DAL called me, I pretty much told him what I thought of the process (in a very professional manner). I essentially told him that I thought parts of the process could have been handled much better because I was kept in the dark for SIX WEEKS with little word from the company and then once I "cleared" the review board, it was another 3-4 weeks before I was contacted regarding an issue with my medical clearance which I was unaware of. I had some knee surgery in the summer and it was being reviewed. Instead of calling me and asking what the deal was regarding my knee, they just sat on it until I called them and asked them what was going on. I was told my medical was held up. I conveyed my frustration when I talked to him because I told him he could have just called me and it would have been cleared up within 1 business day. Essentially, my knee doctor faxed the wrong paperwork. After I cleared up the paperwork that afternnon it was another 3-4 weeks before I was called and offered a class date. Do the math and see how long the process took. I told Brian that from my "conditional job offer" until I was finally offered a class date, a lot of seniority numbers passed me by. He said that I would be "taken care" of when I showed up on the property. I said unless you can change my last 4 of my SSAN to 9999, I don't know what you can do for me because w/ my SSAN, I would be getting the MD-88 out of JFK. He said that there would be a good chance of getting a 767 or even 777. Again, I doubt that would happen w/ my SSAN.

Hopefully, by reading this, you can understand my frustration with the process and the process only. The folks in the hiring department are on your side and they are just as frustrated with it as we are. They do not like it that they are not fully in charge of the process. I'm 100% certain that Delta is a great company to work for.

I'm sure you have read all the messages on the Delta shrink thread, so I'm not telling you much that you hadn't heard or read already. Just hang in there and hopefully you will hear good news soon.