Short leg.

You know, have you ever watched some of the people as they pass through first class and are looking for something to take? Saw a woman coming up from the back tonight take a red blanket from first class. As soon as she got to first she looked left and right, under the seats, pulled into 2B, stood there for a while for her friends to come up from the back and then hunched over and walked out like she stole something.

Which she did. You could see it under her arm as she walked away.

One document said that and that document was based upon plans at point in time blah blah blah....things change as you have seen Flight Ops do a big 180 after only 3 months...possible hiring 2012 to now what we are hearing MAYBE hiring in 2014 or beyond. Everything else continues to point in the direction of no hiring including words spoken directly by management. Better get a new route map to pin your hopes of advancement on.

BINGO!! That's exactly what is about to happen. People talk about reading the tea leaves....not necessary. You just have to listen and use common sense.

I never saw a single reference to hiring pilots in 2012. The closest I have found is one bullet that mentioned starting the hiring process in late 2012 to have classes going winter of 2013 for the summer schedule and to ease the 717 training flow. They never planned on hiring more then 150 pilots in that round. The ER program came in 105 below what they expected and then a large number of pilots on leave came back. There is nothing difficult about the numbers and no big conspiracy. Most second graders could do the math.
The good news is that the aircraft promised are coming and the pilots who took the ER program were substantially younger then the target group. That means that while they were 105 short now in 2 years they will have more movement from the program then if they had hit their target group since the 59 to 61 year old pilots who took the ER program will still be gone and the 63 to 65 year old pilots they targeted who stayed will now be gone.

Its funny if the company intended to do that they would publish false reports in their 10Q ect.. It really makes no sense when you realize that wall street loves capacity constraint. You would think the company would amend the reports to reflect the additional retirements to please wall street. With the current fleet right around 720-725 lets assume your right and we shrink modestly to 700 airframes. We have about 200 new airframes coming. 100 737's, 88 717's and a handful of MD90's still in mod. Your statement would require we park 225 airframes to get to 700. That would mean all the 757's and a most of the A320's would have to be parked in the next 3 to 4 years. Would you like to put some serious money on this bet??
We will have a excellent idea if your right in a month or so. In the March bid if the company intends to keep the mainline size flat or shrink will have a net loss to neutral in Captains positions. I think you will be find your wrong when the bid comes out. There will be a substantial net gain in Captains positions.

I don't know what this statement is referring to, however SD put out his weekly message back in June 2012 stating that "IF we passed this contract that it allows the company to put it's plan in place and we could be hiring as soon as fall of this year (2012)" Now this is not an exact quote but pretty darn close. I find it hard to believe that he/the company could have been soooo far off on their hiring assessment.

If we gave up 1000 jobs why did the company not post a massive displacement in the last bid for Captains? If we gave up 1000 jobs then the March bid will have to surplus 500 Captains. They would also have sent out the furlough warning notices.
In addition you should call crew planning right away and let them know about this huge windfall they got. For some reason no one gave them the word and they are using the exact same manning assumptions under the new contract as the old one.
Here are the facts.
Job loss in the contract.
ALV plus 15, 30 day months and the 1 hour bump in average ALV about 300 to 340 jobs lost.
Known leaves and vacation counting toward reserves being full gain of about 100 to 150 jobs.
Increase in training pay, vacation pay, reserve full at reserve guarentee, x day increases, pre posted absences including in staffing, increase in summer and holiday vacations, improved sick leave and a reduction in trip parking add up to another 100 to 150 jobs gained. The net loss is around 100 jobs overall.
The union and the company both costed the jobs out at almost the same number. The company has looked at the contract and the coming FTDT changes and plans zero adjustments in how they man the airline.
You state we have lost as many as 1000 jobs. Where are the massive displacements to support your numbers? The last two bids had a substantial net increase in Captains jobs. The bid to be posted next month should have a net increase in Captains of well over 100 jobs. How do you explain that if your numbers are even remotely right? Put some numbers up, show us where you get 1000 or more jobs lost. Explain why the company seems totally unaware of your numbers and is not displacing 500 or more Captains?

I believe the statement was to begin the hiring process in the fall of 2012. Classes would have been in 2013 for the summer schedule. They only planned on 150 pilots based on 300 early retirements. Not sure why with 196 early retirements and over 150 pilots on leaving coming back you find the numbers so far off.

Edit/// Here is the companies exact statement on hiring. Note how bad some memories on here are to what was actually said.

"""Finally, I know the big question out there on the line as you hear about mainline growth is how that will impact our pilot staffing and whether it will jumpstart pilot hiring. It’s been no secret that we are looking at a wave of pilot retirements over the next few years as pilots begin to approach age 65. Because of that, our pilot hiring group has remained active since we stopped our last round of hiring in 2010, and we are prepared to start the hiring process on short notice. While our hiring is ultimately based on the Network block hour plan, which in turn is affected by the economy, all indications are that the addition of 717s and the opportunity for pilots to take advantage of the Pilot Retirement Medical Account (RMA) early retirement option will accelerate movement across the seniority list and require us to begin hiring earlier than the planned pilot retirements alone would have. If Delta can continue to execute its business plan, including the 717s, and barring an economic downturn or other unanticipated event, we could begin the hiring process as early as the last quarter of this year.""""

Please note the begin the hiring process part. That does not mean pilots in class. I suspect that we will begin the hiring process next fall and have pilots in class in the winter for the summer schedule of 14.

See above, Your statement is incorrect.