Originally Posted by dragon (Post 1199908)

Guys,

Commuted home yesterday. While this in itself is not noteworthy, especially for those of you who get to live in base, what is interesting is the aircraft I was on.

I commuted on an E70 (travelnet code). It was a comfortable ride (seated in an aisle seat in coach with a passenger next to me). We both had elbow room and except for having to check my big crew bag, there was plenty of room in the overhead - lots of pax had big bags up there!

The real problem was I flew LGA-DFW. That's a mainline route (or should be). So, we put a comfortable airplane on a mainline route with lower crew costs how is this not a win for the company. It looks like a Delta plane and doesn't have any of the negatives as the CRJ-700 (cramped) so the passengers don't notice. It had young, energetic crew and good service.

This reaffirmed my view on section one of the TA. I just can't see having these planes flown by subcontractors. We have rates for them and I think DAL actually owns a lot of them. By giving away more large RJs, we really are selling our jobs.

Originally Posted by tsquare (Post 1200137)

Not if we sign this TA we won't. IF we turn it down...all bets are off.

Originally Posted by hockeypilot44 (Post 1200261)

Just so you guys know. 70 large regional jets is enough to put a plane at just about every gate in the "A" concourse of DTW. It is two more Compass's. How many DC-9/737-200's did Delta and Northwest have combined? The entire Northwest mainline fleet at the time of the merger was at 320 airplanes. We are going to allow 325 large regional jets. This number is huge. This agreement will probably get me off of reserve. I will not get a pay raise as I will have to bid the 717 to get off of reserve. This TA is a huge step towards us being an 8000 pilot airline in 10 years.

Originally Posted by tsquare (Post 1200134)

That is a very small deal. I'll bet they have NOTHING to do with the reason for the accelerated contract. I'll even go further and say that if this goes down, that we will not see all 88 717s either. There will be no need because the DCI lift will be the same as it is before the TA. ANd for those of you that don;t like the additional 76 seaters, you had better read our current contract, because when those 717 DO show up and the fleet goes above 767.. and it will... those 70s can be converted to 76s.. management wins either way. SO control the number.. or don't.. it's up to you.

I prefer to control the number, and get a nice pay raise to boot, TO each his own I guess....

Originally Posted by Lifeisgood (Post 1200290)

I am with you, 44.
The 50 seaters are going out on their own and I am not ok with even 10 more large RJ's. If they are so good for Delta they can be flown by Delta pilots and yes Delta can afford to pay more for flying them, then Mesa.
That is what I said numerous times to my reps and was told that they heard the message loud and clear.

By the way, next month we will cross into less than 12000 pilots territory..

Originally Posted by Jack Bauer (Post 1200204)

I have done that. Since DALPA is championing how great this is and ignoring the stagnation that I just pointed out in the post you didn't like. Lets look at a just few things Alaska airlines has in their contract that are ahead of what this new proposal even promises.

Minimum daily guarantee = 5 hours

You bid for Short Call or Long Call and...

Short Call (2 hour notification) gets paid 79 hours

Long Call (11 hour notification) gets paid 75 hours

Long Call can be converted to Short Call 4 times per month. The first time the pilot is paid an additional 2 hours. The next 3 times the pilot is paid an additional hour for each conversion. Permission must be granted by the pilot for any conversions greater than 4.

Pilot must be provided first class on deadhead any time first class seats are available on any flight.

Pilot must be provided first class on a deadhead on ANY flight over five hours. This also includes consecutive deadhead legs adding up to 5 hours (all those flights need to be first class).

Off Days of Reserve. A reserve pilot will receive at least two 2 day periods in a row, one row of 3 days, and one group of five days in a row off during the calendar month of reserve.

Any food available for purchase by passengers in the main cabin must be offered to deadheading pilots free of charge.

If onboard internet is available on any airplane it must be made available to deadheading pilots free of charge.

Crew meals are provided to the pilots (no flight time restrictions). These meals are chosen during quarterly meetings between the MEC and the company. (Pilots basically have a crew meal on every flight long or short).

Maximum hours for reserves is below what this contract proposes.

and so on and so forth....

Originally Posted by N261ND (Post 1200299)

So vote no and get all the flying back at mainline. If it's Delta paint, it should be Delta pilots.

Your reps shouldn't agree to anything that doesn't get all the flying back. What is so wrong with a Delta pilot flying a 50 seat RJ? It wouldn't take inches away from your wang.

Originally Posted by casual observer (Post 1200199)

I'm a reserve international F/O living at the base. I'm not going to vote based on what other people think, but I'm open to being influenced by them. My own interests are this: The raise is appealing, the reserve enhancements are appealing. I'm not concerned if a scope issue delays my upgrade to captain, but I would be concerned if there is a credible threat to junior guys being furloughed. I think there is a potential to vote no and work for a better deal. I think it is equally likely that a no vote could result in a delayed, less attractive agreement if market conditions change. I think there is a hard to quantify value to good will. All in all, I think the agreement is as good as our union leadership thinks it could get and entails less risk, because it can be renegotiated in 3 years. I guess the only thing that's going to sway me is the credible threat to the jobs of junior delta pilots.