Yep, I think your assessment is probably accurate. Which will make me check the no box as quickly as I can.

“Automatic and immediate widebody staffing remediation in the event of non-compliance“

Since we know the company won’t comply, does anyone know how this will actually work? Before the next TA that Delta knows they’ll need widebody staffing, do they just know ahead of time what outsourcing violations they can use to give them the widebody pilots they already planned on needing? I honestly don’t understand how we would ever know what jobs were really baked in to fundamental operational need vs which ones were purely above-and-beyond penalty award. And even if they plus up for penalty, they will just delay adding positions subsequent to that event. I think management is probably already laughing on their way to the JV bank.

Call me naive, but maybe the company has seen that investing solely in JVs isn’t the best strategy. Delta lost a lot of money from the JVs that have gone bankrupt in COVID.

JVs make money when times are good, but maybe it’s better to have more intl exposure in our livery?

Especially if they are confident that Uncle Sam will bail us out in a crisis.

I’ll wait to see the language. There needs to be theater/aircraft checks and balances in it.

Delta 757-200 to SJO ≠ Air France 777 to CDG

Talk is cheap. We need results. They ain't done **** yet.

One theory is if the company agrees to several side agreements before the main contract, then the final agreement doesn’t seem so costly to shareholders, other employees groups, etc. I’ll take 5 $200M improvements now vs holding out another year for a $1B win.

A respectable decision.

My .02. This is a nail in the coffin for SYD and what's left of the Pacific. While considering what is going on between China, Russia and potentially Taiwan, this move makes sense. I feel flights between the Americas and EU are going to set records as there won't be many other places to go.

With everything there should be moderation and balance. The language should give the company flexibility to fly WBs where it makes the most profit but at the same time include language so an entire theatre can't be pulled to zero.

From the Chairman's Letter:

Protections that ensure Delta is not left out of flying in the Atlantic, Pacific and South American geographic theaters



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First off all, analysts don’t lose track of $200M here and $200M there. Investors may not always make good decisions, but any investors that management cares about can sum up multiple incremental agreements just as well as you and I can. I also don’t personally care about optics for other work groups - that’s not my problem. And while five $200M agreements over a year sounds better than $1B a year from now sounds logical, there’s no reason that hypothetical is even relevant to the discussion. We could just as easily be talking about a zero-cost agreement now followed by $3B in two years vs. nothing now and $3B in six months.

Beware the false choices - they seem to be getting offered up with increasing frequency here and elsewhere.

It is likely a trial balloon on scope. If it fails miserably, they haven't lost all of the work on the TA and can pull $$ from the open sections to fix scope. Let the pilots decide.

Spoken like a pilot with no WB experience. All NB flying is the same too right? 1 leg/day to an all inclusive is the same as 5/day to the villes and burgs...

Final language matters. Is it 1:1 airplanes or 1:1 pilot jobs (hint: we care about jobs not airframes)? Replacing 2x12 hr pacific flights replaced with 3x8hr Atlantic flights is a big loss for the pilots.
48 WB A hours + 48 WB B hours could be replaced with 24 WB A hours and 48 WB B hours. And yes "We DO think they would do that!" What about the 2 pilot Atlantic out of BOS? I share your optimism that our negotiators worked through the obvious loopholes and wouldn't agree to something this obvious. Our fleet plans of 4 pilot (A350) and 3/4 pilot (A330) airframes would lend to keeping a reasonable balance, especially with the IGW A350s on order.

I agree 100% The exact language matters. If 4 pilot trips can be replaced with 3 pilot trips on a "1:1" basis its an automatic no.