Originally Posted by
DAL 88 Driver
Off the top of my head, I honestly haven't noticed that. Most of the comments I've seen seem to be oriented around dissatisfaction with compensation and scope, not actually working at Delta Air Lines.
1) You would have to prove to me your assertion that "far more and better jobs were lost to work rule changes." I don't doubt that some jobs were lost due to that, but I think far more were lost to the RJ's than any other factor or combination of factors.
2) Have you considered that many of us don't necessarily want to fly as much as possible but need to fly as much as possible because our pay is otherwise too low and also because many of us are trying to rebuild our retirements after the loss of the pension?
The total block hours flown on average in 2001 were the same as the block hours flown in June of 2007 pre merger. You would expect that would yield the same number of pilots. Sadly it did not. We were flying the 07 schedule with 2500 fewer line pilots. Down from 10,000 to 7500. That was a direct result of a hundred or more work rule changes to increase productivity. Those jobs lost are equally spread across the fleet spectrum from 777 CA to MD88 FO.