MoonShot

I'm on a dying fleet, so its hard to gauge how we are doing on overall staffing.

The Chairman's letter today talked about not hiring to fill all the retirements. Are we really overstaffed, or are they cutting things down to a real thin margin?

It seems that with all the upcoming retirements, we'd be starting to hire more to get ahead of the upcoming retirement wave. Are we being optimized to the red line? If so, will it backfire down the road?

Anyone know what fleets are fat/short right now?

Lets hear some opinions/rumors from the line!

Denny Crane

Uhhhhhhh........Yes!

Denny

notEnuf

The only way to get concessions on productivity will be by crisis. The only way to have a crisis is by over optimization. Oops, we need you to work more, sorry. Not sorry.

2StgTurbine

Since Delta has a lot of aircraft and a lot of bases, it is hard to get a sense of the actual staffing. Right now I bid reserve and do one trip a month and maybe 3 short calls a month. In the last 2 years I have only had 2 re-routes that removed legs instead of adding them. I am sure they have "enough" pilots but they are just not correctly balanced between fleets and bases.

Now what Delta defines as enough is different than what pilots think. I am sure they have done the math and have determined how little they can get away with. Increasing the amount of reserve usage and green sips is cheaper than hiring more pilots. I am sure we are also hitting the limit of what the training department can process. AEs take up sim space that could be used for new hires. If they limit hiring for the next 12-18 months, that allows them to re-balance pilots from overstaffed fleets to understaffed fleets. Then they can shift their attention to new hires again.

Buck Rogers

I can define enough pilots.....that's where I sit reserve .....never get called out......and get paid the reserve guarantee....which is more than the ALV some months....month after month after month


Am I right?

Rooster435

I’m a junior narrow body Capt. Been getting a line regularly and can drop pretty much whatever I want except a few weekends and holidays. That tells me senior guys are bidding reserve on purpose in order to work less and reserve coverage is high enough to make schedule adjustments.

Sooo... I’m guessing some categories are over manned and some under manned with little training room left to do any balancing.

I personally think we should have a mechanism to swap bases outside of the normal AE process. Would love to bid a different base for a few months to get some variety. Under the current system there is no reliable way to do that.

As far as reroutes, which the chairman mentioned, I’d like to see some data. The company says they are down, does ALPA have data that says otherwise? My personal experience is that I’m seldom rerouted and that they almost always work out in my favor so I don’t have a lot to complain about. I do want stronger contract language and an easier trigger for getting reroute pay though.

Buck Rogers

The quickest way to achieve a great contract is if management does as you say. They, themselves nail their foreskin to the floor and then ask us to help them out? Not likely, but that's my negotiation dream come true. They would have no latitude to bargain before the wheels come off costing "them" mucho dinero in stock options as our net promoter score plummets. Can you say JD Power...NOT?

I hope you are right.....just for diff reasons

notEnuf

This will eventually come to fruition. They know they will throw a bunch of money in some form (soft pay etc.) at us to get this done. I think they are positioning to get stuff for it. Productivity being #1 and Scope #2. They will need justification for both and being limited by hiring and training fits that narrative.

Buck Rogers

So, they are gonna purposely put themselves in the hurt locker so they can make it up on the back end because the pilots will cave on the two most important issues?

And, if we don't capitulate.....they will be crucified by wall steet/investors? I don't agree with your assessment that they are way more savvy and nefarious, OR incredibly stupid.
I think management learned something last go around about the pilot group.....and it cost them a lot more than it could have

Or....an alternate thesis is, you think the Delta pilots are stupid and would fall for those shenanigans?

notEnuf

I think the MEC is going to TA a big money gain and it will have these things attached. I don’t see the MEC passing on a big money deal nor the pilots. If management things were not in NEED of improvement (productivity, JV latitude etc.) they would not end up in the TA.