Originally Posted by
redblueskies
PackTrip, I appreciate your efforts to post these numbers. I do. For someone who is so into numbers (as I am myself), it'd hurt a lot less if you stopped trying to trivialize the difference in retirements. It doesn't take a statistician to see that those retirement numbers when changed into percentages represent 20% of the premerger NWA list and only 10% of the premerger DAL list over the next 10 years. In other words NWA had double the attrition coming when looked at with percentages, which is the only accurate way to view these things. I won't even get into the medical & pension as motivation to retire at 60 debate but that would have accelerated the NWA side even more.
The reason DAL retirements start to exceed NWA's so much eventually is simply because there's hardly any NWA pilots left. To see a true comparision you'd have to change the numbers into a percentage of remaining premerger groups. You'll see 10-20 years from now it doesn't take many NWA retirements at all to match DALs attrition as a value of percentage of remaining pilots from each group.
I, and many other NWA guys, lost a TON of career progression and that caused me to lose sleep a few nights so far this week. Just to give you an idea I was slated to retire in the single digits, now I'm projected to retire around 300. I would have been a narrowbody CA in about 4 years now I'll be lucky if it's 10. Still not shabby but we can all agree it is a significant blow to career expectations, a blow that starts at SOC. I'm taking the advice of the wise old men on here and looking on the brightside and trying not to dwell on it, but do us a favor and stop pretending DAL guys had anywhere near the short term attrition NWA guys had. It's insulting to our intelligence, most of us have already crunched the numbers and know better.
Now here's to hoping we all benefit for our sacrifices and turn this new airline into the best airline in the world.
Excellent post. Seriously. I assure you guys I am not trying to trivialize anything...I'm just trying to understand the impact of it all on all of us.
I think a lot of it has to do with the information you guys have. Example: On Dec 8th when the ISL came out, DAL pilots got a seniority list: Last name, seniority number, employee number.
You guys got that color coded jobber with all that plus date of hire, pre and post merger percentage, original seniority, and equipment.
For myself, all I have access to in the Delta system is my Sen # on the old (DAL standalone list) by year and the total number of age 65 retirements each year.
You guys have that easyboard with all the cool analysis of percentages. I agree, percentages are everything.
I full understand what you are saying...even if we had the same retirement numbers, that fact that you guys were a smaller carrier meant that you all would have moved up percentage wise much quicker as a stand alone...but then there were still the wild-cards: DC-9 future and 747 freighter future...
Anyway, no offense intended...I just like numbers and would love a nice fat spreadsheet with all sorts of cool data that I could play with...but in the end - it doesn't matter one bit: It is a done deal, my number is what it is, our negotiators on BOTH sides FAILED to reach an agreement, so we have a decision by a 3 man impartial panel that has set our fate for the rest of our careers.
I'm cool with it all and looking forward to hoisting up tall cool ones with you guys.