Probably a reference to the lump sum payout.

Yup... and DALPA has already conceeded to the company via C2012 to give you an additional short call when that goes into effect. :cool:

Which is my concern. How would we ever justify having a pilot on duty >16 hours?

sad, but that was my first reaction also :D

There are a lot of moving pieces to the operation and it's really amazing how well it actually works. Well over 90% of the time everything goes as planned.
Generally it's the unexpected things that throw a monkey-wrench into the operation. It's been my experience that when that happens most Delta people pick up the slack and "mask" the problem by making everything work out anyways...

• What's the metric for Panasonic techs deciding that 45 minutes before departure is a good time to set up a ladder in the aisle and pull the ceiling panels to install new IFE boxes?
• What's the metric for the pax who "has to pee" right at departure preventing the "cabin ready for departure" call?
• Is the ramp congestion in the ATL caused by making a 90-degree push or by nobody interested enough to be ready to marshal in the jet as it pulls up to the gate as scheduled?

The data doesn't tell the full story and never will and many data points never even make it into the big pool because we attempt to keep the operation on-track.
Operational Excellence memo wants us to stop "masking" the problems and let the data speak. The problem is a lot of what we do at work is "masking" the operation's inefficiencies...
Where is the cutoff for when to "mask" and when to just go at "normal speed?"
When some of the AA pilots stopped "masking" issues caused by other departments what were the results?

Again, I want Delta to run as well as the "European Train system" (maybe minus the Italian ;) ) but I don't think Flight Ops is the department in need of significant improvement...

Cheers
George

Yep - except, I think, pilots who fly with an "augmented" crew will be able to sit SC for a little longer than unaugmented before timing out. But there will be no difference between "domestic" and "international" operations. Like you said ;)

Good because right now, for a two-man crew it just depends on whether you turn right or left.

Departing JFK for SEA -> subject to Whitlow 8-hour rest loock-back
Departing JFK for SNN -> not subject to Whitlow 8-hour rest loock-back

Cheers
George

My apologies for not whipping out the abacus. I was making a T&C response without making it a basic math discussion. :rolleyes: I'm sure you both get the point that we still aren't anywhere near where we were pre-bk....especially when you consider the "time value of money" and lost pensions.:p

It's all good :D

Time-value of money and inflation will have at it and make the number even more eye-watering. Since 2004 inflation is running a compounded 22.9%.
Take the 66% required to get the numerical rate and adjust for inflation and you get about 82% to achieve the same buying power...

Meanwhile Delta CEO pay is up five-fold in the same period, although I'd argue RA is a magnitude more effective and beneficial to Delta and its stakeholders than the 2004 CEO...
I'm glad Wall Street doesn't have a problem with a +500% raise for key personnel to keep the company running well.

Cheers
George

7 crews for sure. 7 pilots or 3.5 crews per jet would be hell. Don't expect that to happen until at least 2016.

Good post.

C2K lasted until just 6 months short of its amendable date (5/1/05). While those that were on the property point to the payrates, they fail to average in the 1310 guys who received almost ZERO from that contract. Leo Mullin left Delta 11/2003, a year ahead of LOA-46 and reductions from C2K rates.

So your timeline here is confusing to me...as an "astute watcher" (sic) are you asserting that Delta's bankruptcy was planned during the summer of 1997? Mullin showed up in September of that year. Also, for timeline purposes, which USAir and CAL bankruptcies are you referencing?

You realize that the best year of profits for Delta was 1998, right? We recorded a 12% margin and the stock traded at a peak around $140/share that year. 1999 also produced over 10% returns. And the guys that sold their first lot of options made about $30K. The second lot was nearly worthless, and I don't think the 3rd lot ever paid, but the appreciation in stock price and option income was significant (at least for me).

Oh, and one other thing, while Mullin proved incompetent at running an airline, he'd been in the railroad industry and helped cobble together what became Conrail from the ashes of 7 other companies. He wasn't just a banker/consultant as you portray him. Fred Reid had been the President and COO of Lufthansa. So there was some airline experience in the executive suite, it was just disconnected from post 9-11 reality.

C2K wasn't achieved until April of 2001, so I think your timeline is wrong. At 1996 contract rates the pension would have had significantly less pressure. While the dotcom bubble was bursting in 2000, the rest of the market and interest rates hadn't yet tanked, so pension funding wasn't yet a major source of management angst. There were a bunch of us talking about not having enough in our own name, but the perfect storm had not yet formed.

American didn't become a competitive monster...they were in the 80's, but after 9-11 they were the first to the employee concession trough after an ill-timed and conceived merger with TWA. Then they did nothing with their competitive advantage (lower cost labor) until they went bankrupt. USAirways was in BK - twice. UAL followed suit. DAL and NWA didn't go until September 2005. USAirways/AWA didn't get their act together until 2006.

So while your post is interesting reading, the timeline is very different from the facts as I know them.