to clarify, I found out after I posted the $359 that it was the rate for aircraft they don’t operate. So, the top rate we would use for the me-too is, in fact, $342.

 

ahh, that makes sense for their group 5 rate. But that is just 747/A380

 

I’m honestly curious…where’s the trash talk? All I said was I didn’t expect AA to lift the bar. I didn’t think they were in a negotiating position to do so. Too much debt, too poor metrics, too few reasons to demand much more and a (reportedly) disgruntled, miserable and disjointed pilot group who has such a terrible current contract that they’re likely to accept something less than other pilot groups might. I’m just conveying an opinion based on chatter with good friends who fly for AA, never having even been in an AA cockpit myself. I don’t blame them for their operation or their contract any more than I take blame or credit for ours. And if any US major might be first to flirt with bankruptcy in a global economic downturn, I’ve generally thought that would be AA based primarily on their debt load. The more a new contract costs AA, the longer it takes to ease that financial burden and hedge against the next black swan.

Some of y’all need to get some thicker skin if this Delta knucklehead is getting under it by posting my random impressions of a TA synopsis. I’m happy for everyone who likes this TA - looks a lot like ours (that I voted for myself).

 

I'm at AA...there's disgruntled pilots at every airline. There's also plenty of AA pilots who are happy (or at least content) with their job. While it's true our contract is arguably the "worst" in the industry, it's not completely miserable, and the SWA FO refugees I've flown with lately seem to not mind it. As for the BK rumors...it's highly unlikely that AA will declare BK, short of a deep global economic crisis (anything could happen I suppose). The main issue with AA is our management's unique talent of pulling in the most overall revenue but posting the least profit. They aren't very efficient, to say the least.

Regarding the AIP...very little information is known at this point beyond a few bullet points. It's unlikely that this AIP will create snap-up gains for DAL pilots, as AA seems to have settled on basically matching DAL pay. From what I've seen, there are some modest and decent work-rule gains, and some disappointments (hoping we'd get more sick time accrual). There's also some unknowns...we don't know what (or if) there's any updated language for trip trading, which is one sore spot as previously the company could arbitrarily set the trading/drop parameters unilaterally, and lately they've made it very difficult to trade or drop anything.

 

I was agreeing with what you said. I didn’t see your post as critical at all. Someone else said you insulted them and he thanked you but I didn’t read your post that way. I wasn’t referring to you when I said “haters”

 

Minor point but I think they are IATA codes. ICAO codes are 4-letter codes (KLAX/KDEN). However, both have North American headquarters basically side-by-each in Montréal which, of course, is home to the the most successful hockey team in the history of the NHL, even with their 30-year hiatus from hoisting the hardware. ("The curse of the scorned Forum").

 

I consider the Penguins the most successful hockey team ever followed by the Red Wings. 5 cups and 4 cups post expansion. I have more teams in my beer league than the NHL had when Montreal won most of their cups.

 

Clearly you’re not Canadian. Also, there are 5 teams with more cups than the penguins, and 1 more team with the same amount. A few good years doesn’t make a team the best ever.

 

Really? If I were Ed, I would want to drive AAL/UAL/JBLU/LUV's costs as high as possible. And vice versa. There is a one time snap that will add a bunch to DAL's costs. DAL + $.01 would do it. It's just dumb to not want to do that, because a lot can happen before the next one and there is a good chance a recession is on the way

 

that only works if
1) you don’t drive up your costs too, and

2) if you don’t believe you will have trouble recruiting with an industry substandard contract.

on paper the idea of AA or UA management agreeing to an extremely high rate for their 777-300s might seem like a grand plan to drive up costs at DL, but I doubt their respective unions would go for it.