Originally Posted by forgot to bid (Post 1380473)

http://mytripexpert.com/wp-content/u...ggage-Fees.jpg

:D

Originally Posted by FIIGMO (Post 1380469)

US Airways' Doug Parker on Future of Fares - CNBC


Glad we have Richard Anderson.

Originally Posted by TOGA LK (Post 1380507)

+1 US Air and AA won't catch up to where we are now for at least a decade.

Originally Posted by iaflyer (Post 1380178)

I wasn't talking about ten years ago - I was talking about the last five.

I don't deny what happened in the past, but that was under very different circumstances, the company had the pilots up against a wall with a gun threatening to shoot. (1113c)

The people who say our latest contract is cost neutral are kidding themselves. I don't care if it's cost neutral to the company - what else are they going to say to the press - "we're going to take it in the shorts from the pilots with these pay raises"? The cost neutral part is that they aren't paying for RJ engine mx and giving it to us. I am making 15% more this Feb than I was making last Feb (pay raise and higher reserve guarantee).

I believe we've gotten pay raises every year since 2008. In fact, in 2012 we got two.

1/1/09 - 5%
1/1/10 - 4%
1/1/11 - 4%
1/1/12 - 4%
7/1/12 - 4%
1/1/13 - 8.8%
1/1/14 - 3%
1/1/15 - 3%

That's 35.8% in 7 years, 5% a year. Any other airlines out there gotten this?

Originally Posted by Bucking Bar (Post 1380435)

Delta might have been setting records, but the music on those records was written during the Continental & US Air bankruptcies. When United filed in 2002 (using the same consulting group already on the Delta property) an astute watcher could correctly assume that the same model was going to be used on Delta. This began before C2K and before 9/11. The decision to strategically bankrupt Delta was probably made with the decision to bring on Leo Mullin with no experience in running an airline ... Leo Mullin was a banker / airline consultant who worked for the firm advising United on their bankruptcy.

In the spring of 2000 at a private lunch attended by Hollis Harris and other retired senior management the topic at the table was Delta's unsustainable pensions & pay (not just pilots, although that was a part of the puzzle) and the need for bankruptcy. For me this resonated with a couple of speeches I had heard from Fred Reid and Leo Mullin where they made the point that "costs do not matter. ... our competition will meet our costs and exceed them." Some friends who had helped with another airline's Section 6 bargaining were with me and none of us could believe what was being said. Some senior D-ALPA Admin were in this presentation as well, so Alpha, Slow and probably Sailing have institutional knowledge about the management roadshow during those days. I have spoken with some Delta pilots who had first hand conversations with Leo Mullin who had heard him reflect the same sort of "who cares? We will never honor those contracts anyway ...." attitude.

At the regional carriers money could not be spent fast enough. Collins was given tens of millions for equip RJ's with dual FMC / Heads Up Guidance Systems (of which more than $50,000,000 just sat on account for quite a while). The ASA and Comair divisions of Delta Air Lines Holdings reportedly paid 8 to 10 million MORE for per CRJ200 than AirTran acquired 717's for. Comair built new gates in CVG and MCO and ASA was brought out of the stone age to near Delta standard for tech and maintenance.

IMHO after 9/11 the plan got away from Leo Mullin and senior Delta management. American drastically cut costs and became a competitive monster, as did US Air. Leo, Fred and Michelle's profligate ways immediately put Delta into a much worse situation than they had anticipated. They had intended a well organized "planned burn off" (my term) and they now had an out of control forest fire on their hands.

IMHO D-ALPA did a very good job in a very tough situation, as did a lot of Delta managers. The airline had no legitimate long term plan other than to try to get through the next year, six months, week, etc. Senior management and their consultant buddies were picking the meat from Delta's bones. Leo Mullin was at best reactive according to this writer:

Airline Without A Pilot - Leadership Lessons/Inside Story of Delta's Success, Decline and Bankruptcy: Harry L. Nolan: 9780977207602: Amazon.com: Books

If I were to write a history of Delta's bankruptcy (and I've always thought one should be written), C2K would stand out as a last act of hubris which was irrelevant before it was signed (as was the United contract there). The agreement assumed economic conditions which no longer existed. It is my opinion management signed the agreement with the full expectation (at least among the senior management if not the actual signatories) that the contract would not be honored.

The scope sections of C2K began to fail within 6 months. Given that the aircraft commitments were made (and reported in the press) 18 months prior, it is pretty obvious at least one of the signatories at the table had no intention of honoring the agreement when they signed it. ... and the path to breaking that contract ... bankruptcy.

Conclusion: Management knew, and ALPA should have known, bankruptcy was coming. Why else order 500+ CRJ's to replace the 727 / 737 fleets, when your scope agreement predicates mainline growth? Why hire a banker and bankruptcy expert to run the airline? Why allow them to gild their exit packages? Why run around stating "costs don't matter" unless you never intended to pay when the bills came due?

Originally Posted by flyallnite (Post 1380205)

With the new FAR's, we will all essentially be at the same level of productivity. It was based on our contract, after all. Any other 'efficiencies' will need to come in the form of better scheduling and fleet decisions. Not my department. I want to make industry leading pay if I'm expected to deliver an industry leading product. We fly a $h*tload of cargo. We fly super premium charters. We fly all over the bloody globe. We are making billions in profits. I want my share of that, plain and simple. I don't care if it hurts the company a little, they'll just have to cut back on the stockholder dividends and gay pride floats. My union needs to realize this and act accordingly.

Originally Posted by Delta1067 (Post 1380538)

When will Whitlow apply to the 7ER?

Originally Posted by Bucking Bar (Post 1380539)

When it operates on non international flights. Look at the release ... when it is not flying as a flag carrier.