Clanging VPs won’t help. They all answer to Ed, who hates pilots and makes poor decisions rooted in that hatred. He refuses to acknowledge the power we have collectively, and always has. It bit him bigly during our last contract negotiations, when some of his comments on cable news (lies about our ability to strike) effectively cost the company half a billion dollars and put this current lucrative contract into play. He HAD to sign the deal we got…and it was even more valuable than the JV negotiators working for him thought it was.

Delta needs to buy a coverage ladder that can actually cover trips while we wait patiently to become properly manned in the 18 months ahead. In the mean time, they can make trip coverage functional by returning to historic PB day handling, returning to historic reserve pilot rest assignment, and finally raising pilot pay high enough that we’ll ratify a quick contract that lets them shuffle OOBWS and tinker with auto-acknowledge.

With those three pillars, Delta can still salvage summer 2026. Without them, we will sadly watch this Gummster fire burn, watch our NPS plummet, watch consumers shift away from Skymiles-generating credit cards. Our ability to generate significant revenue premium will evaporate precipitously, and a whole new generation of disgruntled, exploited and otherwise demotivated pilots will fill Delta cockpits and mentor thousands of new hires into belligerent curmudgeons.

At least that’s what I think I see from the cheap seats.