Regarding hiring
 

Nevermind.

I was going to say something, but my phone messed it up before I finished and now I'm out of time.

Actually, I spoke with the chief pilot this morning and specifically asked if they were going to fill the future vacancies they mentioned with new hires. He said he called crew resources and stated that at this time they had no guidance on filling future vacancies other than no hiring is currently planned. They did say they believed they would eventually hire, but said it ultimatly was not up to them. No time frame on when hiring would begin was given.

That kinda goes with what you said in that ops would like to hire but Mother Delta does not want to. So I can buy that we will eventually hire but at this time there are no plans to fill current or future vacancies. Not arguing with you, they actually supported what you are saying. We will hire someday or attrition will end us.

Sounds like the Boys at the Board have a merger in mind.

Crap, I don't want to merge minds. I personally think we will continue to continue to displace FO's to "fund" 717s and 737s. I don't think we will hire until winter of 2015. We need to start a giant pool everybody gets a guess. I'll take Feb 2015 for first new hire class. Who's in?

What else could a person think?

Put me down for interviews in Jan-Feb 2014, classes in March, newbies hit the line for summer 2014...:rolleyes:

UNLESS

They buy someone before then.
(Hawaii, Alaska, Jet Blue, Emirates JV, etc.)

In that case, no new hires, ever!:eek:

I gotta start drinking.

Constructive engagement circa 2015.

Mgmt: Hey guys, we sorta backed ourselves into a corner by not hiring soon enough. We have a an idea that is win win, but need an answer asap or the deal goes away. You know, plan B and all.

Dalpa: Ok, we agree. We will need a little help putting a positive spin on this.

Mgmt: Ok, here is our idea. We need the flexibility to put new hires anywhere we need them including direct entry capt. To keep the training churn down we can't have pilots moving up to new equipment every 2 years. We propose 5 year training freezes. By doing this, most of the current pilots will be frozen after the 1st few years of large retirements and we then can have 1st year pilots in every seat. Just think of the efficiencies of having 1st year pay on the 747/777. By doing this we will be able to afford to buy UALs 777 fleet as they retire them for those overpriced/underperforming 777-300ERS, 787 and A350s. That alone should garner a yes vote from our pilots.

Dalpa: It's going to be tough to sell that. Our guys were really counting on some rapid movement once the retirements hit full stride.

Mgmt: How about 4,8,3,3 but we need to change the threshold for profit sharing some to offset that last raise.

Dalpa: Hmm, sounds ok but we think they might have slightly higher expectations.

Mgmt: Boy you guys are hard bargainers. How about 5,9,4,4 the same reduction in profit sharing, a 1% increase in the DC plan in 2019 but to fund that we need no cap on insurance premium increases. Besides, a large portion of pilots use tricare anyway since we allowed them 10 extra years of full time military service post 9/11 all the while keeping their seniority.

Dalpa: Ok, we need a little time to discuss this internally and figure out who are team players and who are not. Last time we were able to marginalize the DTW, MSP and slander the SEA FO rep. Thankfully the rest realized that a united front was in the pilots best interest. Sorta like the cardinals are doing now in Rome.

Mgmt: Ok, enough. We need this done yesterday as we have some fleeting opportunities (no pun intended). We will give you 30 days for road shows and a vote. We can help by having the VP of flight ops have a few base visits and also pump it up on his weekly emails.

Dalpa: Thank you for your generosity and help. This is a +717 no, make that +777 deal for all of our pilots.

Dalpa:

Nerd;

You have outed yourself as an ALPA insider. Are you the current Chief of Strategic Planning? I'm thinking yes.

+777

Sounds like a merger with relative seniority and Hawaiian

It makes no sense and RA has repeatedly said no, but...

I think it might actually be in the works.

Cons:

Hawaiian has a lot of debt, not a very lucrative route structure, doesn't really bring much to the table.

Pros:

We push hiring out another 2 years or more.
Market cap. 330M.
They have 717's.
They have 767's.
They have A330's.
They are getting A321 NEOs.
We could take back a lot of the routes Alaska is now flying to the mainland.
They have a couple of HND slots.
It would increase our market penetration in the Pacific and Australia vs. UAL.

Hawaii is rapidly growing in geopolitical importance with the rise of China and the overall situation in Asia. I would think that at some point in the future, maybe a ways off still, every U.S. airline (assuming there is such a thing) will have a hub in Hawaii.

Maybe the B.O.D. is thinking the same way. Seems VERY odd that the latest crew resources monthly letter was pulled from the DLNet shortly after it was published. There must've been something in there they didn't want or mean to say...