Are we putting lie flats in 757s or do they just mean the international business elite seats that it already has?

"Delta is also enhancing the sleep experience by expanding full flat-bed seating. Delta is introducing full flat-bed seats in the BusinessElite cabin of all transcontinental flights operating between New York and Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle beginning in March 2013. All of Delta's Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft serving these transcontinental markets will offer the flatbed seats over the next 24 months. Delta's decision to install full flat-bed seats on its transcontinental flights complements the airline's current investment in full flat-bed seats on its entire international widebody fleet of more than 140 aircraft. By the end of 2013, 70 percent of all Delta aircraft will have flat beds and, in early 2014, Delta's entire widebody fleet is scheduled to be complete."

That's how it works at DCI (ASA in particular). It seems mainline has the same playbook.

The extra move in Delta's play book is flag operations. IMHO one of the reasons for making the 767 (domestic) category 7ER (international).

Oh, sorry, I was referring to the not-hiring-til-we-are-cancelling-for-no-crews strategy. However, your experience with the flag ops is definitely a dirty trick that shouldn't be available to the company.

The 75er's are getting lie flat seats as well. All about consistency of product.

I bet that's right. There are 250 pilots in CVG and once you force all of those who are not commuters to become commuters things change as to what they want to fly. I'll fly a Saab 340 as long as I don't have to commute, but if I have to commute, I want the ER. I'm sure they all have enough seniority to force a lot of training. Probably a headache the company can do without right now. Besides, they're just doing ATL flying anyways plus the CVG-ATL routes. They're not a drag on the system but extra ATL pilots. :p

Not really a "dirty trick." There are instances where it makes sense to operate that way, like augmented crews with rest enroute. But some flag operations are two pilot deals. Delta's got quite a handful of double red eye flag rotations on the 737.

The crew schedulers (to the best of my knowledge) have no mandate to do anything other than to cover the airline's flying legally. The pilot has a responsibility which outweighs the responsibility of the scheduler. At the end of the day we all agree safety comes first.

Weren't junior manned trips 200% at ASA? Some folks find a big pile of extra pay to be refreshing. Guess daydreaming about the extra pay keeps a guy awake.

Think the plan is mass displacements, off the 320 and ER, due to more 90s coming online. The Mad Dog will be plenty staffed this summer I'm betting.

ALV+15 is going to prove to be a costly QOL concession not to mention the hiring it postponed. Anyone coming from a regional knows it will prove to be a miserable existence for a reserve. Just because they haven't been able to schedule that way in the past doesn't mean they won't. It's a slow slide to regional work rules.

Back in ALPA's better days, SAFETY was used to justify better work rules and reduced hours. Further, pay was used as a disincentive to schedule those operations. (night pay anyone?)

ALPA had to give up the moral high ground to facilitate outsourcing. After all, if it safe for a regional to perform this sort of operation, when why not mainline?

By setting a separate standard which was "safe" at the regional, it was obvious where the long term trend was heading. Safe enough for ASA is safe enough for Delta, especially when you have the same managers revolving through flight operations from one Company to the other.

... and this loops back to my concerns about ALPA not following the Admin Manual. It is about more than just scope. It is about all areas of the contract which one group might fight for and another group undermine.