Hey, I backed all my 14 days off together when Mini-80 was born... I've flown almost every day on call! ...and they call the airbus "overstaffed." My butt.

As far as the beard, I ruined a razor hacking that thing off... I felt like a Spartan up until that point... except that I was sick practically the entire time!

UP requires a degree for their engineers and conductors. ;)

Spackler Airlines? Really? I offer to put you at the top of my seniority list, and this is how you repay me? By not even remembering the name of OUR airline?

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-U.../Spacklair.jpg

Ingrate.

Carl

If I apply for a job there and get hired, do I have to shave? (this is a picture of me clearing the TSA checkpoint in EWR)

http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/wp-c...0_1570638a.jpg

Elitist bastards!:D

[QUOTE=newKnow;1336672]There were two events that stopped hiring. The ER program ended up with only 196 pilots however overall the result is better long term because of the demographics of who took the program. Then we had a large surge of Military leave pilots coming back after seeing our terrible contract. The had anticipated 300 ER pilots. There are 100 bodies right there. They did not plan on 150 mil leaves coming back. The 150 number was straight from crew planning in discussions in the last summer. We are and have been overstaffed with FO's. The 717's will be staffed with current FO's initially. Even with what I posted above flight ops still wanted to hire to smooth out the training flow. You might recall last month they stated they were not funded to hire additional pilots. The request to hire was denied above their level.
One other thing to keep in mind. When retirements kick in they will need a additional 500 pilots because of training constraints and the loss of pilot availability when large numbers of training cycles are needed. They will have to prime the pump at some point.

Personally, after listening to the investor call, I am more convinced than ever that DL is embarking upon uncharted territory for an airline. As much as I'm disappointed at the lack of hiring and lack of a new widebody order, and the overall shrinkage at our company, I do think that something big is right around the corner.

I'm talking about "Big Data". If you aren't familiar with this term then I'd suggest you at least Google it because it's the next big thing. Like internet big. Maybe even bigger. There are a lot of things coming together in the world right now that are going to make possible things that we have struggled to even conceive.

The comments by RA regarding a large investment in revenue, product and strategic planning technology combined with the recent move towards ACARS 601 and other data collection points (such as the new website and app), the move towards a revenue based FF program, lead me to believe that with this new technology will come a top to bottom review of not only our business, but the entire industry and our position in it. Big Data will be put to use in determining what we are going to look like, where and what we will fly in 10 years. This isn't going to be done by some slimy consulting firm. It's going to be in-house and proprietary.

I think that until this review is complete, you'll see minimal aircraft orders and hiring at a pace to satisfy only a status quo. When it is complete, I think you're going to see a very different approach to our business, and I would expect it to be a very aggressive one.

I know all this sounds a bit far fetched, but it's happening right now in healthcare, engineering, manufacturing... practically every field you can think of and when the data finally catches up with the concept, it's going to be like flipping a switch. Boom. The future...

You're in! We already have Forgot to Bid, and since you're clearly out of uniform, we'll have to call you...Forgot my Lid.

Carl

Interesting stuff, especially when you consider that airline reservation systems where one of the first big uses of computers, back in the day when nobody could ever imagine why they would need to own a computer. Crandall turned the business upside down with Sabre, and we know what the internet did for the biz. It would make sense that "big data" will make another major change to the biz...hopefully one that is good for us.

Now, the next question is, where do you invest to make money on this "next big thing."

here's another dot:

two dozen current generation 320/737-family aircraft for 1B cash and a trade for some 50-seat RJs..
Delta Said to Talk With Airbus, Boeing on Jet Purchase - Bloomberg

Cheers
George