I couldn't care less how much money United or American made because there is absolutely nothing I could do or say that would change anything. I'll continue to show up, fly my contract, and hope the people who get paid to make decisions continue to make us profitable. I hope United and American do well because that means, hopefully, their pilots do well which means we will do well as a pilot group.

 

I think you missed the greater point. It’s all like “two fleas arguing over who owns the dog they live on.” I also hope that our people who can do something about our operations do so. The numbers are merely indicators of something increasingly dysfunctional over here. It’s the only reason anyone cares. They may as well be eggplant emojis. Ours are just turning in to something else….the gummster fire continues. Feel the churn!

Aside from that I fly the contract 4-5 days a week anymore and just absorb the crew swaps and delays. Four days, four FOs again this week. It was better not all that long ago. I hope we get those days back.

 

"Feel the churn"

I like it, imma steal that. Good lanyard fodder too.

 

They lost Q1 to us, unlike in 2025. That’s competitive regression. Mind you, they lost Q2-4 and full year results last year too (and will do so this year too).

The real benefits of Trainer will be revealed in Q2-4 where you will see DL pull far ahead on United in profits. UA’s unregulated growth is biting them now with fuel, SFO and ORD capacity reductions, and FA TA costs (technician contract still do). Plus, they carry $31B of debt to Delta’s $13B and continue to be a non-investment grade carrier.

Trainer, AMEX, our stronger JV/partner ties (LH Group melting down in Europe currently vs AF+KLM), the growing MRO business, hub dominance (pricing power during downturns), and continued investment in premium will grow the gap from DL’s competitors. Revenue diversification will win out.

Delta is hemorrhaging millions in premium payout and still out performing the rest. Once corrected the performance gap will continue to grow, once again. Some people think our “image” is damaged- it isn’t. We just leaped to #1 per ACSI above WN. Planes are full, enhancements to the product, air and ground, are being made continuously, and the NB/WB/pilot group is all growing.

 

We're dead last in cancellations for some time now.

That's not a premium product.

 

This is the issue. Are we mostly on time and do we have minimal cancellations? The refinery, premium this, premium that, new routes etc etc. NONE of that matters if we have 10x the cancellations of our competitors day in and day out. This place used to be freakishly reliable.

 

Are we first or are we last cancelations? Oh well, if you're not first, you're last!

 

We will be the only airline giving a non trivial amount of Profit sharing next year, thanks to the Refinery.

Also folks, the true number that matters is PTIX, because that determines profit sharing. Delta Q1 PTIX was slightly higher. Everything else is just noise unless you're an airline analyst