Exactly!! Nobody wants to move out of a 2% mortgage into a 7% mortgage. Housing prices are still elevated and have to fall considerably before lateral housing moves are possible with similar payments.

Even if financially equivalent, moving to base won't ever be a consideration for a large portion of the pilot group because of outside influences that are a higher priority than Delta. The current industry staffing crisis requires that airlines and air lines cater to commuting employees. You can't keep the airline running without commuters, it's a fact. If the commute hassle becomes too great, they lose a significant portion of the workforce. If commuting becomes too difficult, new hires will look for employment closer to home. It doesn't take a genius to figure out the larger population in TX, FL and IL favor airlines with large bases in those states. NYC and LAX are a draw. The only way Delta remains competitive for new hires in a non-commuting world is with bases in TX and FL.

Employing commuters is a choice and the company knows it.

 

I understand your reasoning with your response . I’m not making a jab at you at all but just trying to counter your response . We all knew the deal when we accepted the job but things change. Just like we all try to get better pay and benefits . Why do we all fight for better pay and contracts at 9E and Delta ? Shouldn’t we all just accept the crap contracts we had when we got hired ? No , it’s a continual evolution. The old way for decades of commuters getting to and from work has gotta go . PS to and from work helps both parties tremendously. Just call it even and keep PS to and from work and move on to the other things in the contracts that need improvement.

 

I get that it is what it is, which is why I often choose not to play the game and buy tickets. My idea for a solution is the bolded part of your post and my post quoted above. I'd even be ok having a limit of say, 4 pass riders, under my option (not the current non-rev option). I understand I'm likely an outlier, which is fine, I'll just continue to buy my tickets and not let the employee, with a basketball team of kids, list last minute and blow up my plans. Like positive space commuting was, it's so much less stress that way.

 

E-Bay players, also known as ninja-nonrevs.

 

I completely agree. Burns has been going into new hire classes and stating that PSC will likely not return, all while encouraging them to move to base. In this hiring environment those pilots are simply going to leave for another carrier closer to home as soon as the opportunity presents.

The old mentality of “We’re going to do nothing to accommodate commuters, and if you don’t like it you can just move to Atlanta.” won’t cut it here anymore. Delta needs to improve its commuting policies and/or base offerings if it wishes to attract the best possible talent in the years to come. United is exploring the idea of opening new pilot bases for this very reason.

 

I haven’t seen signs that Delta believes it must do anything to attract the best talent…nor that it actually values or rewards talent.

I’m not even being facetious; am I missing anything in the public messaging, compensation package, or company policies that leads others to believe otherwise? Are my years of service here an anomaly?

 

Who cares if it’s a last minute listing, nothing wrong with it or against any rules. They’re exercising their seniority. I list last minute for flights all the time, changing my routing to ensure making a connection & probability of better seats..depending on the matrix of Equipment, Weather, loads, connection times, ect ect ect. AND…I might have listed, checked in & cleared security and be sitting at a gate and change my mind…list for a different flight and GASP…burn an S-2. It’s my right to exercise my seniority on my travel benefits as I see fit. As far as the Grandmother working the system to take her grandkids….blah blah blah….how do you know those kids aren’t her dependents. Lotsa grandparents raising kids. How do you know she didn’t adopt kids later in life.

Exercise YOUR seniority as you see fit with within the rules and mind your own business when we exercise ours. Don’t like it?

Buy a ticket.

 

Therein lies the problem - the hubris of our management team is too great for them to realize that anything needs to be done to attract quality talent at Delta. Delta may have offered the best pilot job in the industry at one time, but I’m finding it increasingly hard to recommend us to any of my friends who are applying to the major airlines today (aside from those who already live in our bases).

By the time our management team figures out that there is a need to make Delta more attractive to new hires, our competitors will already be well ahead of us.

 

Maybe at the regional level? They do own a regional airline that is imploding due to a pilot shortage. I’m sure Skywest is pushing them to give something/anything to be able to keep their planes staffed. Maybe that will flow up to us?

 

A few years ago (2018-2019) I frequently saw active status 197X DOH employees on my commute, none of them were ever pilots.

On a couple occasions I saw WB As on that route who could not get FC while 2-3 people senior to them did.