Originally Posted by
Buck Rogers
Yes....and they divided their group into thirds. The top third took a 10% ALV cut, the middle third a 20% ALV cut and the bottom third a 50% cut all in an attempt to eliminate furloughs(lots of other moving parts in there) But still, I stand by the assertion that most Delta posters opining about their deal were uniformly negative and expressed a sentiment of "UAL sold us (Delta) down the river".
When does reading the tea leaves properly constitute being astute and when does it just become "luck"?
I think the main point is not "how" they (UAL) did it, but they fact they prioritized keeping everyone current.
I personally think splitting UAL into thirds was divisive...I know my UAL counterparts felt it was when they found out they were taking a much larger cut than the top third was.
Could UAL have achieved the same 'everyone remains current' objective with straight SIL's and VLOAs? I don't know...my magic 8 ball broke a while ago.
However, Delta appeared to be more concerned with optics and unions, so they MOAD'd before they VEOP'd and they didn't SIL...I would guess maintaining pilot currency for the recovery wasn't even in Delta's top 5 objectives.