Originally Posted by Sink r8 (Post 823437)

...and 40,000 posts.

Originally Posted by Sink r8 (Post 823438)

...well, 39,999

Originally Posted by jiminmem (Post 823439)

..and the 40,000 post.

Originally Posted by jiminmem (Post 823433)

Welcome back Launchpad. I heard the recalls would be soon and interviews for newhires in early July.

Originally Posted by Launchpad475 (Post 823444)

Not sure about the interviews, sounds like they are putting some the recalls in the beginning of the month classes and the flow ups in the later in the month classes. Must be some ratio.

Not sure about interviewing newbies.

I'm roughly #1, with about 45 bypassers interested, majority coming from the fNWA side I guess.

As we stand right now, sounds like Airbus in MSP/DTW, some ATL 88 or NYC88 maybe is where the holes are.

Sounds all very fluid.

that's all I got.

Originally Posted by jiminmem (Post 823449)

45 was mentioned last night, I was suprised to. They did say after the flow ups though, only 140-150 off the street with 2000 applicants. So, a tough market.

Originally Posted by NWA320pilot (Post 823451)

Can't believe they only have 2000 applicants..... Back when I was hired in 96 there were over 12000 applicants that they wanted to interview for around 400 positions.

Originally Posted by Launchpad475 (Post 823444)

Not sure about the interviews, sounds like they are putting some the recalls in the beginning of the month classes and the flow ups in the later in the month classes. Must be some ratio.

Originally Posted by iaflyer (Post 823455)

So it sounds like maybe 2 classes a month?

Originally Posted by Lifeisgood (Post 823461)

2000 apps for ~900 new hires through 2011?

What will they do when 800+/year/major airline retirements kick in? Age 70?
Maybe it is shortage and this is shouldn't be a 20K job any more?

Originally Posted by Lifeisgood (Post 823461)

2000 apps for ~900 new hires through 2011?

What will they do when 800+/year/major airline retirements kick in? Age 70?
Maybe it is shortage and this is shouldn't be a 20K job any more?

Originally Posted by satchip (Post 823415)

That was me too. I had a very senior load tell me the three rules of life to follow in MAC.

Don't f the hired help

Don't poop in your own back yard

Never diddle the little people

But I'd still pay her bar fine....

Originally Posted by Lifeisgood (Post 823464)

Heard a nasty rumor of A330's going away from SEA on the next bid and displacement of half of the base.
Could this be true?
I wish they'd just replace them with equal amount of 7ER's.

Originally Posted by Lifeisgood (Post 823464)

Heard a nasty rumor of A330's going away from SEA on the next bid and displacement of half of the base.
Could this be true?
I wish they'd just replace them with equal amount of 7ER's.

Originally Posted by buzzpat (Post 823508)

I live out here and haven't heard anything at all about that happening.

Originally Posted by Launchpad475 (Post 823444)

Not sure about the interviews, sounds like they are putting some the recalls in the beginning of the month classes and the flow ups in the later in the month classes. Must be some ratio.

Not sure about interviewing newbies.

I'm roughly #1, with about 45 bypassers interested, majority coming from the fNWA side I guess.

As we stand right now, sounds like Airbus in MSP/DTW, some ATL 88 or NYC88 maybe is where the holes are.

Sounds all very fluid.

that's all I got.

Originally Posted by Launchpad475 (Post 823512)

Me too. Sun just came out finally.

Originally Posted by Lifeisgood (Post 823464)

Heard a nasty rumor of A330's going away from SEA on the next bid and displacement of half of the base.
Could this be true?
I wish they'd just replace them with equal amount of 7ER's.

Originally Posted by jiminmem (Post 823542)

SLC and ATL will be going 7ER over the next year, at least that was the plan they told us. They also said the 330 and 744 fleets would stay where they are.

Also mentioned was that SEA would grow in the ER category.

Originally Posted by buzzpat (Post 823109)

Carl, you're having a problem getting the final AWABS prior to push? I'm serious here. Maybe its because you're on the 74. Otherwise I can't imagine why. I've only had a handful of problems in 9 years. 'Course, I'm only flying narrow bodies. 99 times out of 100, when the gate agent closes the door, the ACARs dings and the numbers come across. LA, NY, ATL, Chicago, wherever. The only time recently I've had an issue was in DTW. When I called the freq for the loading folks, I was chastised for trying to accelerate the process. The gate agent told me that there was a learning curve between them and the load folks. She was fNWA so I took her word as gospel. Other then that, I've had very few issues at DAL. Late arriving pax, bags, etc, sure. But normal ops, nope.

Originally Posted by RockyBoy (Post 823529)

Roadshow peeps are saying that the ER in SEA will grow on the next bid and that there are no plans to "re-base" the 330's at this time. It sounds like none of them will be moving to NYC or ATL for awhile, although I'm sure that is in the plans farther out. I kinda think you will see the ER category grow the next couple of bids and the 330 will get smaller eventually. In the end if the total number of ER and 330 positions in SEA is greater than it was before the merger, then we are all better off. What nobody seems to be leaking out is the plans for the SLC 767 category. Are they gonna convert it to an ER category or just close it?

Originally Posted by Nosmo King (Post 823576)

I'll just do the short(ok medium) version on this topic.

A330 ATL-HNL 9/10 departures this year I've been pushed late due to late AWABS numbers. First time we received 6 ACARS messages in 10 minutes telling us DO NOT PUSH. Found out later it was because they loaded us over max ramp weight.

DTW-HNL Late push because Delta switched to a new catering company. Inaugural flight left 90 minutes late, even though the purser had started rquesting the correct catering at 45 mins prior to pushback. Had no ice in biz class for those people that paid $2K plus for their tickets. Undercatered on meals and booze. Had no styro cups. Same day as inaugural DTW-ICN or DTW-HKG, I forget which.

AMS switched to new catering company similar story to DTW.

AMS KLM fuelers being told by DAL to load A330 with a non-standard fuel loads. Did I mention that KLM has been operating the A330 since it was built?

AMS KLM has ground staff meetings every week to work on problems relating to departure delays. Cleaners rep and catering rep no longer attend since they were outsourced to diff company.

SE taxi and APU usage - I have overburned enough fuel due to FPS this year to continuously run an A330 APU for at least 100 hours (300lbs/hr) and thats just on my personal rotations. If they really want to save gas they should start with the things wasting HUGE amounts of gas first. I dare say it would be worth the money to run the flight plan in Worldflight first and xfer it to FPS just to save the gas.

Originally Posted by buzzpat (Post 823580)

Nosmo, appreciate the feedback but that doesn't really address the issue of late AWABS. Most of what you're reporting is the same thing I see going through DTW. Its not the load planners but the catering folks who are screwing up. That's a whole 'nother issue. I get the catering deal...I've been there. This issue that Carl raised was not getting the W&B from the company prior to pushing on time. That's a separate issue and one that I've not seen very often in my years at Delta. The catering thing, and the "home boy" approach to blocking in and blocking out jets in Detroit is a different issue and ones that need to be addressed ASAP.

Originally Posted by buzzpat (Post 823580)

Nosmo, appreciate the feedback but that doesn't really address the issue of late AWABS.

Originally Posted by Nosmo King (Post 823576)

I'll just do the short(ok medium) version on this topic.

A330 ATL-HNL 9/10 departures this year I've been pushed late due to late AWABS numbers.

Originally Posted by Carl Spackler (Post 823586)

What do you mean that Nosmo's post doesn't really address the issue of late AWABS? Here is the very first paragraph of Nosmo's post:



I don't know how he could have been any clearer that late AWABS is happening to him too.

Carl

Originally Posted by 80ktsClamp (Post 823393)

Remember, commuting is a choice, and it is on the borderline of even being ethical.

If I were to miss a commute, I would just do the right thing and resign right there. Then give myself 20 lashings for immoral behavior. :)

Originally Posted by buzzpat (Post 823588)

Carl, as you often like to post...you're not listening. Read the rest of his response. Quite cherry picking what you like and don't like about a response. Read it again: about 80% is catering, changing catering companies, etc. That's a cultural thing and a contractor thing. I know you get it. The AWABS thing is an internal Delta issue and a completely different issue.

Originally Posted by buzzpat (Post 823590)

And, as I also recall, northie guys are used to pushing without the AWABS and getting it on the roll. That's been a change, obviously, to how you do business. Southies wait until it comes across before wrapping up the Pushback check and calling the ramp. MB there's a cultural thing there that is being addressed. All I'm saying, and I've been here awhile, is that late AWABS are not, and never have been, a problem. If you guys are having them I suppose its because of the new equipment, training going on in ATL or whatever. Doesn't mean its not happening. Just means I'm not seeing it.

Originally Posted by DAL 88 Driver (Post 823268)

I can't speak for the other fleets... I've only flown the 88 and the -9 at Delta. But I see absolutely nothing wrong with single-engine taxi being the norm. Obviously, like anything else, you have to use common sense. If you're going to be taxiing up a big hill, then you probably need to start 'em both up before that. On the other hand, there are examples like 26L in ATL. If there's a long lineup for takeoff, then you might need both engines to get up that hill. But, if you can get some speed up prior to engaging the hill, you can coast all the way up at idle power. It just takes a little bit of planning. For example, 29 knots of ground speed was the magic number on the 88 to make it up the 26L hill. In other words, if you hit 29 knots at the bottom (just before going up the hill), you'll make if fine at idle with only one engine. It's a nice smooth taxiway... so no problems with that speed. But my point is (and my experience has been) that you can safely use single-engine taxi a high percentage of the time and it will save fuel in most situations. And that savings really adds up after a while! Even on the 88 and the -9 (which is a very busy seat for the F/O), I've never found it to be too high of a workload during taxi. Like I said before, it just takes a little bit of planning and common sense.

BTW, I agree with you about all the other little areas Delta throws money away. While that is very frustrating, I just don't think it leads to a logical conclusion that we shouldn't care and try to operate efficiently whenever we can do so safely and without compromising our product to our customers.

Anyway... just my "2 cents", FWIW.

Originally Posted by Carl Spackler (Post 823601)

Y
It would be like if NWA was the surviving management, and we issued the fDAL guys a memo stating that we do not use LNAV. Rather, we put the ND's in VOR mode and keep the needle centered by changing the heading bug. You would probably think that was backward change. Then we could respond, "oh you former DAL guys just don't like change."

Carl

Originally Posted by Scoop (Post 823608)

DAL,

Common sense - you hit the nail squarely on the head. I have been doing S/E taxi at DAL for years and think its a great policy........ with one big exception. I hate being in the middle of a single engine taxi and getting a runway change. If we are single engine and get a rwy change we should stop and set the friggin parking brake.

Why is it a such big mystery what rwy we will be using?? Granted, I am not the sharpest tool in the shed but when I am doing the rwy change items while doing a delayed engine start I am totally worthless as a back-up to the CAPT as far as taxiing goes. I am pretty much inside with quick/sporadic looks outside and it bothers me every-time we do it. I can literally feel the hairs stand up on the back of my neck - like I am doing something wrong and should know better.

If asked what will be the cause of the next mishap at DAL my vote is for some kind of ground incident/rwy incursion while the FO was doing the delayed start checklist and rwy change items simultaneously. Now I know what you are thinking - just stop if you are uncomfortable. Well this would solve the problem at an individual level but it would not solve the problem for DAL as a whole. This should be an ALPA issue. Yeah I know batteries in the cargo hold are a dire threat but so is overtasked FO's!

If S/E taxi is so important to DAL then let them work out a system with ATC where you receive an "expected" runway with your PDC 100% of the time.

Rant Over - Scoop :mad: Mad face for emphasis!