He's someone with vast experience in multiple high-level corporate positions and has proven he can run an organization very well. Recently he was in charge of Dispatch. I can't remember the exact name of his last Flight Ops position but it mainly dealt with Technology which entailed working with vendors on products that made Flight Ops more efficient. While all we hear is the vanilla Optimizer battle cry from pilots no one mentions other vast improvements like the AE processing software and ARCOS that have significantly improved Delta IT. While trips have been built more efficiently, the "Optimizer" is not the root cause of worse trips. The demise of the regionals is. I started my airline career at ASA. On OE on the ATR72-500 I flew to Panama City. I later flew a CRJ there. Then an MD-88. Then a 717. Recently a 737-900. Sure that route has been optimized, but so has pay, going from $24 pre-tax to $329 for that hour of block from the ATL. One major downside is, where the "optimizer" comes into play, is the ATR, CRJ, MD-88, and 717 couldn't go to SAN/PHX/LAS/LAX/DEN/SLC/MEX etc after that quick turn.

Everything? Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

Name "everything"

 

lick lick, ummm tastes good

 

gosh, all that extra flying seems like it might require more pilots, instead of *checks notes* pausing hiring due to a found excess of 500-800 pilots

 

Freedom Airlines: Started as a way for Mesa to work around scope limitations, shut down because it couldn't fulfill it's obligations with Delta.
Endeavor: Bought out by Delta because they were failing and big D needed some way power to wield in the regional market to keep Skywest from dominating everything. Now hemorrhaging pilots and unable to meet their contractual (management requested?) obligations.
Delta Private Jets: Bought by Wheels Up, now hemorrhaging money and likely declaring bankruptcy soon.
Comair: Gone.
Flt Ops: Delta pilot's hiring, schedules, and morale: all in shambles because of the optimizer
Delta pilot's negotiations: static until RG was removed from the picture.
Dispatch: Contentious contract negotiations, and now by the company's own admission work 20-50 concurrent flights at a time, anywhere from 2-4 x as many as regional dispatchers.
Back to FltOps: ???

Trip, unlike a lot of people on here, I tend to agree with you on a lot of things (not everything, but a lot). But you're out in left field on this one. RG's history shows he is nothing but bad news for the pilot group, and frankly, a bad news for Delta.

 

How many dispatchers do you know? I suggest you talk with them for their perspective and their own quality of life as a fellow unionized workgroup.

 

Let me say it loud and clear for all those in the back of the room, those that aren't familiar with RG, or those that are so far up his arse their vision is clouded....

During Covid, when the bottom 20% of the seniority list was looking down the barrel of a furlough with the letters in hand, this amazing "leader" in Flight Ops, during a live town hall said "what's a SIL' with a sh!t eating grin on his face and let out a little chuckle...that was his response to a user submitted questions about the possibility of SIL's to prevent furloughs.

He F@CKING LAUGHED while the pilots he "leads" were about to get kicked to the street. It was amazingly convenient that the 2,558 WARN letters that went out only went back to Dec 2016 hires...in case you are wondering, RG was hired Nov 2016.

I wouldn't pizz on him if he was on fire.

 

100%. It's beyond old at this point for this internet group to keep pointing out Trip is pro managment like its a surprise.

Years of the same ****. Just enjoy the bad takes and remember its gonna be a decade soon of him trying to worm himself into the 4th floor.

I just want the 5 year weather forecast.

 

trip, you and I both know that isn’t really true. 4 leg days may be a result of the collapse of the regionals but 8:50 block days and frequent sub 11 hour overnights are a direct result of RG and his quest for optimization.


After everything he has done I’m amazed any DL pilot would actually defend this guy.

​​​​​​​ I’ll alway remember was him laughing about SILs while I was reading my furlough notice.

 

Trip didn’t get a WARN letter so he really has no understanding of the emotional toll RGs words had. In fairness, I didn’t get one either but it doesn’t take much to empathize with fellow ALPA bros/sis. I only breathed a sigh of relief when I realized I was senior to RG, and I’m not kidding about it, that’s when I started to relax about getting furloughed. He is blinded by the glitter and gold and doesn’t care how the sausage is made.

 

I’ve got six or so! All neatly tucked away in my “delta family” envelope. I won’t forget the shock and awe that was used to try and scare my family during the height of COVID.