According to my wife, my chance is 0.

 

Looks like a Samsung Galaxy to me.

 

We are trying to become more efficient. Although, I was an "against" voter, I have been looking at our position as an airline. We need to pay the piper sooner than later. Why?

-Delta is staffing aircraft at around 17 crews per plane. The nearest competitor is between 15 and 16. So technically, we are overstaffed on a comparison basis.

-NRT hub under attack. Can be a very Bad thing if NRT is null-and-void.

-Our true debt is over 43 billion dollars. A few billion more than our nearest competitor.

-RA has been know to say he wants a 9000 pilot work force at Delta. We are getting closer to this number monthly. Our new contract allows us to fly more, thus less pilots needed. Lately, I have been flying with Captains that fly more than I expected (over 90 hours/month).


** It is apparent and needed that Delta be on a Diet. We need to lean out and become more efficient. I would rather not hire, than hire and furlough. Management needs to do what management deems necessary to make us competitive. What I dislike is the way the UNION "sells" on behalf of management.

These are the reasons, imho, that we are not hiring anytime soon and coincidentally our stock price reflects our inefficiency and debt.

TEN

 

What ? ! ?

 

Did I miss something? Its been about three months since the TA passed and guys are mad that we are not hiring yet???

I voted yes and would vote yes again. Look we all knew that short term this would not help with hiring - higher ALV - shorter July and August etc. Long term we will see hiring and not because or in spite of the TA but because of retirements. The age 65 rule did a lot more to delay hiring than our new contract.

I and 1100 other DAL guys were furloughed while DCI flourished. This contracts brings domestic flying from 55% to 65% mainline - that is good. Yes more large RJs sucks but that is secondary to the fact that mainline will fly more passengers - mainline is going to grow as a percentage of the DAL system. Not last month, not next week but hopefully over the next few years.

And yes I realize the 50 seaters were going away anyway - does that somehow make it not good?

And finally, I don't think too many DAL pilots "fell" for anything - there was plenty of information out there both pro and con about the TA. We all knew, or should have know, what we were getting.

Scoop

 

My issue with the jumbo RJs is how long they will be around. The 50 seaters were going away, and we bent over to help them park them only a couple years ahead of schedule. DL achieved a major small jet scope weapon against us for longer into the future with this contract.

That was my major issue with the scope section of the contract. The rest of my issues were that it took what my lowest expectations were and undershot them significantly (the inflationary level pay "raises," crap min day, vacation and training pay still at the bottom of our peers and many regionals, concessions on staffing, and so on).

As such, I felt it would delay hiring and advancement vice hiring approaching the front burner. I really really don't want to be proven right. It's our contract and we're along for the ride now. Hopefully we can capture some goodies on the FT/DT negotiations...

 

Nah, the Samsung Galaxy is almost as large as a 747. The Air Force calls it the C-5 and the Navy calls it the C-141.

 

Sorry large pic ... stand by

 

I need a bigger computer screen, Bar.

 

RA is the king of: "There is no money in: Fill-in-the-blank" or "its not part of our core business".

RA likes to shrink to profitability with two nice tools he can use. These tools are called outsourcing (via joint ventures) and increased pilot utilization (via greedy/hungry pilots)

He is a very smart and strategic manager. Like I said, DELTA is on a Diet. Short of any other unforeseen "Force Majuere" events; we will become a very lean and mean entity. The only problem is that the others will grow to profitability while we salivate over here. But it is not about us, it is about RA and his shareholders

TEN