Originally Posted by
sailingfun
NW was not Delta. They had a very static route system and basing situation unlike Delta. I don't think you would ever get marketing to commit to a system that required basing and flying forcasts on a monthly basis. Comparing the requirements and what is involved in staffing a airline from the old NW to the new Delta is not really valid. A monthly bid is basically unworkable when you have the degree of change we have going on. Its fine when you are replacing retired pilots and adding a few block hours here and there.
Sailing,
Your point in red is exactally why DAL needs the monthly APA system. It allows the company much more flexiblity in moving people and expanding or contracting positions which Delta seems to do a lot more than NWA did. Lets say that tomorrow DAL discovers the need to dramatically downsize SEA base and increase JFK because some bean counter really fouled things up. Would you want to do it now or wait until Sep/Aug because that is the next AE. Just saying that a monthly tweaking seems to allow more flexibility than 3 times a year does and would also give guys a better idea of what they can do rather than shooting in the dark alot. Each position had a viewable list of who was bidding the position along with displacements if there were any. We did the AE thing before we got APA just like you guys do now. Having done both systems I vote for APA. Trust me you would like the monthly gig.
