How many of those pilots (or those around them) were previously displaced from captain positions?...in other words, re-upgraded.

If a guy finally took an upgrade for the first time from being senior WB FO, while the guys around him have been displaced from captain's positions for a a couple years, I guess you can call that a "new captain", but it doesn't tell the whole story.

Once you upgrade the guy junior to the most junior guy that held captain, then you can say "new upgrades" and have it mean anything.

It's the same as getting a marginal pay increase after taking a large pay cut, and calling it a "raise".

Nu

Less than 200 pilots have less than 5 years seniority. Not that big of a deal.

The next guy posting oversized jpegs is being sent to the principal's office.

http://www.impactlab.net/wp-content/...-in-school.jpg

No SkyTeam?
 

Bloomberg / By Kari Lundgren - Mar 21, 2013 10:09 AM ET

Delta Air Lines Inc. said its new partner Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. doesn’t plan to join the SkyTeam group and that their joint venture will remain separate from that between the U.S. company and Air France-KLM Group. (AF)
Virgin said Dec. 11 it was looking at joining SkyTeam and might reach a decision in a matter of months after Delta bought 49 percent of its stock. Alliance membership helps carriers boost marketing efforts through joint ticket sales, shared lounge access and the combination of frequent-flyer programs.
Delta and Virgin are working with regulators on both sides of the Atlantic and anticipate that approvals for their venture will be received later this year, possibly in the fall, with the cost- and revenue-sharing pact to be activated immediately after that, said Ed Bastian, the Atlanta-based company’s president.
“At some point down the road SkyTeam will come up, and I’m certain that over time it will be viewed favorably, but right now that’s not the priority,” Bastian said today. “Their main priority is addressing their financial needs in respect of the losses they’ve been posting and getting the JV up and running.”
Delta paid Singapore Airlines Ltd. (SIA) $360 million for the Virgin stake and needs antitrust immunity to coordinate pricing and schedules on 31 daily trans-Atlantic flights. Bastian said that while the application includes coordinated timetabling with Air France-KLM and Rome-based Alitalia SpA, Delta will have two separate joint ventures for the U.K. and continental Europe.
Heathrow Boost
“We’ve made the investment in Virgin Atlantic so it’s not anticipated that it would ever be enlarged,” Bastian said at a press briefing in London. “There is a lot going on with respect to putting together the JV and that’s where their focus is.”
The Virgin deal gives Delta a bigger platform at London Heathrow airport, Europe’s busiest and the home base for British Airways (IAG), the top carrier in North Atlantic corporate travel.
The airlines will control about 25 percent of the U.S.-U.K. market, compared with the 60 percent share held by BA and American Airlines, which already have antitrust immunity, Delta Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson said in December.
By linking with Virgin, Delta is targeting North Atlantic flights that generate roughly one-quarter of all global revenue from premium fares, more than twice as much as Pacific routes, according to International Air Transport Association figures.
“There have been a lot of questions as to whether the Virgin Atlantic brand will stay in the market,” Bastian said. “Rest assured it is staying in the market. There is no question about that.”
‘No Secret’
Delta and Virgin both offer forward-facing, flat-bed seats with direct aisle access, and thus a consistent premium product, Bastian said, in contrast with BA and American.
For Virgin, still majority-owned by U.K. billionaire Richard Branson, the Delta deal marked the end of a go-it-alone strategy for a carrier squeezed by high fuel prices, a sluggish economy and increased competition as rivals consolidate.
Virgin has imposed a salary freeze and has delayed adding bigger planes while cutting unprofitable routes to destinations including Nairobi in Kenya, and Kingston, Jamaica. Its loss widened to 135 million pounds ($203 million) in the year to Feb. 28 from 80.2 million pounds a year earlier, the Sunday Times reported March 10, citing an internal company memo.
“We were fully aware of the current-year losses,” Bastian said. “Virgin’s had a difficult couple years, that’s no secret. One of the things that’s dramatically different between us and Singapore is the relevance in the market place. There are many more commercial opportunities that we will be able to produce.”


------------------

Looking forward and waiting for ALPA's guidance on this.

I think SD's comments were vague and worded in a way to leave lots of outs. i.e. "start the hiring process" what does that mean ? I agree that it was meant to influence the vote but I am of the opinion that it influenced very few. The contract passed because of its perceived merits, not because of what SD said. DL is going to start hiring 1st quarter of 2014 and barring disasters is going to continue hiring for the next 10 years. Evidently DL put out a RFP to Boeing and Airbus for 20 WB's (777's/A330's) and 20 737-900's/A321's for delivery starting early 2015, these are expansion jets not replacement jets. This AE was the last to have major displacements, from now on they are going to be all positive (maybe a little clean-up). From the latest numbers I've seen it looks like we are increasing mainline capacity slightly. Take a close look at Hawaiian and tell me DL would want them, they are a house of cards. RA is a very astute business man and if he has to buy he will buy a viable and valuable airline. I stagnated my first 6 years at DL as a S/O but then the dam broke and it was "Katie bar the door". I think Katie is starting to look for the door again. My 2 cents worth

ALPA superfans do not care for this type of critical thinking and questioning of their "facts". They are also worried about your tone.

Hey FTB!

Douglas / Electronic Flight Bag porn:

This Is What It's Like to Have an iPad in the Cockpit

Actually 347 and its a big deal it you are in it. Also I thought the broken promise and anti ta guys would love that tidbit of career stagnation info to jump on. :)

Crew Rest now an issue in Air France Crash
 

Air France Crash Report: Captain Had Just One Hour Of Sleep

March 19, 2013
By Mary Grady,
Contributing editor

According to a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder, the captain of the Air France Airbus 330 that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 said he had not had enough sleep the night before, a detail that was not previously released, according to the French magazine Le Point. Le Point says that in a judicial transcript it acquired, the captain said, "I didn't sleep enough last night. One hour, it's not enough." According to ABC News, the new information raises concerns about the investigation and whether the full content of the CVR transcript should be made public. Investigators released a final report on the crash last July.

Meanwhile, Airbus officials have found that simulators used to train crews can't accurately replicate the scenario faced by the 2009 crew when the pitot tubes iced up and the airplane subsequently stalled. "The whole training philosophies need to be adjusted," Airbus test pilot Terry Lutz said in a recent presentation at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, according to Bloomberg News. Lutz's co-presenter, Paul Bolds-Moorehead, a senior lead engineer at Boeing, said, "It has been extremely challenging to try and get an accurate simulator, post-stall. Could we develop a way to provide some kind of angle-of-attack limiting function? It would be very problematic to do, but it's something we should probably look into."

I was the plug Captain at NWA through 2008. There was one guy junior to me but he stayed out on mil leave. A few came in below me in 2009 before the pendulum started swinging the other way. I was never more than 5 or 6 from the bottom.

My seniority is in the 8300s. Nu, there is your benchmark.