Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
Two quarters DAL88 does not make prove the plan will be successful going forward.
My guess is 2011 will be in the black but not to the extent this year was.
We do not get paid what we are worth. We get paid what we negotiate. Even if we demand it, we may not get it if it makes the (for profit) company's solvency come in to question. With CH11 and the previous five years as an example, the only way a single step to these pay raises happens, is if all of the major players go play golf one day and think that it is a good idea
Until you can make pilot costs a fix cost across the industry it is going to very hard for any airline to willfully agree to price itself out of many of its markets. Many investors want 10%+ margins to continue to finance an airline. (Suspect they will be happy with 5-7%) but the reality is that as a whole the industry and this profession face stiff headwinds.
The Manager:
I see where you are going with your idea. I makes a lot of sense on the surface, and could be something that is looked at if we opt to change the current formulas. It at least as a static valuation to it.
DAL88;
My person assumption is that DAL can afford at least 1.5-2 times the total raises we got under the JPWA on day one. That is my assumption, and does not include work rule changes.
I think you are way overstating the effect that pilot costs have in the grand scheme of things. According to APA's fact sheet from when they were asking for a partial restoration back to 1992 buying power (~50% increase), the effect on CASM at AA would have been less than 1/2 cent. Look at how much of a typical ticket price is represented by pilot costs. It's not a make or break thing for the airline. They have all kinds of large expenses that cannot be forecast precisely. Things like fuel prices, weather impacting multiple hubs at the same time multiple times throughout a particular year, etc. These are things that cannot be completely planned for, which means they have to adjust... they have to find a way to make it work. Those become priorities for them. Apparently their own compensation is a priority too. We need to make fixing our pilot compensation a priority. Unfortunately, DALPA has spent the last several years setting the tone that this does not need to be a priority... that's it's not that big of a deal. And if it's not a priority to us, then it's certainly not going to be a priority to them!
Arguments like yours just make this worse and, IMO, work against our ability to get the improvements we so desperately need. I know that's not your intention... but it is the way I see it.