Originally Posted by acl65pilot

DAL88, many of the DCI contracts run for another two to ten years. In effect, we are stuck with them unless they go in to breach of contract.
With that in mind, it would be unwise for a CEO to belittle any part of an operation that will be a significant player for that time period.

Those articles are a sales job to the public.

I do agree that the DCI mess is just that. Too many different procedures and airlines trying to mimic the mainline. It leads to a lot of work and a lot of different products. DAL has done there very best to blur the line between DCI and mainline. To many consumers it is the same thing, and they have achieved their goal, but to others it will never come close.

Keep in mind that pilots are aware of all of this stuff, Joe consumer is generally ignorant about it. I use my sister as an example. She is a very successful attorney, and she could care less as long as the time is right and the price is right. This holds true for the MEH Connect service and the DCI service. She is just tickled pink that she now can buy a first class seat on DCI. Point is the consumer is price conscious and except for the minority will not book around the DCI product.

As Sailing has stated there are only a few ways to force the business case away from small lift. It needs to be financially beneficial for the corporation, contractually prohibited, or there needs to be some legislative interjection. DAL has proven time and again that DCI is not good but good enough. Because of this, the above factors need to be where the energy and resources are allocated.