That's the one thing I love about this country. There is always somebody in the world that needs to be beat up. After all, we are the international police.

c'mon, dude. you are called Packer Backer. don't sound like such a winy, wuss. or at least change your avatar if you do.

I think World will be busy for the foreseeable future. I have flown alot of diverse flights with many different customers, military is def the bulk. BRING BACK THE PACIFIC EXPRESS!!!

Is the Pacific Express the military rotator that flew either SanFran Kadena Osan or Seattle Kadena Osan?

I was stationed at Osan and flew on the 2nd to last rotator flight home on World. Because of my job and position at the wing, I've was privy to a lot of discussion on the World rotator. I can tell you the 1 and 3-star were not particulary happy with the performance and pricing of the rotator. Interestingly enough, on one occasion, I had to book a flight on DAL/Korean Air and the ticket overall was $640 cheaper (no exaggeration).

Although I felt the rotator made the operation very easy (everyone in-processes at the same place, same day), going civilian has saved the military a lot of coin.

-Fatty

On many of our trips, troops carry their unloaded firearms in the cabin. I don't think that is doable on DAL/KAL.

Yes. It was actually called the Patriot Express.

I'm confused. This was a free trip to military families. Equivalent of a military hop. I flew it when I was in the Air Force to OSAN and paid only some tax making the grand total airfare $35 for me, the wife and two kids. Don't know what your talking about but its not the Patriot Express. Some people complained about our service to the higher ups, we always gave hot meals, hot towels, it was better than any commercial economy - but some didn't see it that way.

There's a lot of talk right now about bring back this run. Apparently the new AMC Commander wants this back. Stay tuned.

Everyone is right on this one. :D

The military paid the operator, World Airways in this case, a flat fee to operate the flights. An amount that was far lower than what we get for ad hoc flying. It was put out to bid and the lowest bidder won. Of course, it's not that simple, because of the AMC teaming arrangements. One team gets 60% and the other gets 40%.

The military "billed" the commands for the flying. Some commands paid more than others and the SA's paid almost nothing at all.

It was cheaper to fly commercially if your command was "paying" alot for the ticket. Also, somebody got the frequent flyer miles, if they rode a commercial flight. That was the biggest gripe.

Here's the bugger. A figure that's run around World is that the total cost to the military to fly the personel was running about four times the total cost of operating the Patriot Express. The issue was far more about how the military was billing itself, than the total cost to the tax payer.

Will it come back? If I were a betting man, I'd say yes. After the war is over. One of the big selling points was that it kept carriers like World, Omni, North American and Ryan alive and ready to serve until the next crisis. The military has come to depend on us to be there. Yes, they can activate CRAF and force the big boys to deploy more planes, but we are there ready to go. We have always been the first to fly folks in and we'll be the last to fly them out.

Not on the Patriot Express. That was a regular flt that went to stateside pax terminals, no weapons.
Yeah it was cheaper to fly NWA/Korean, but it was very convenient for a family. How easy was it to board a flt at the base? Now a family of 4 has to load up in a little van or bus to the regional airport, transfer, fly up to Korea or Japan and then push the strollers through those airports. Its been crazy from what I've heard.
Word is its coming back! Lets hope! Rumor is a new F/A class this winter, perhaps another hint.

Any word on DC-10 F/O, F/E new hire classes? You guys are short on the -10?

The last bid shows 9 DC10 FO positions open, the FE/So side shows fully manned (with some in training). That assumes that we don't increase the number of crews - currently 40 for what will be 5 pax and 2 freight DC10's. I think that the assumption is that the beancounters will need to approve an increase in the total number of DC10 crews.

We also have 18 MD11 FO slots not filled after the last bid. There are no positions unfilled on the 747 with the junior Fo being just over a year on property.