Originally Posted by Bucking Bar (Post 1397684)

Sorry for nerding out ... but here's a friend and mentor explaining his stage acoustic set up. He's got the best tone of anyone I've ever heard play. Part of the trick is his use of alternative tunings which expand the range of the instrument. While his Olsons sound the best the carbon fiber guitar handles the tunings and travel better than anything.



BTW, James Taylor describes Dave as "my favorite guitar player." Taylor sets up his Olsons really well too.

Originally Posted by forgot to bid (Post 1397740)

ICAL was made up of a lot of different groups who hated each other. But despite their differences they came together... to hate Coex. :D

Originally Posted by block30 (Post 1397741)

What are you saying? Also, I thought that Delta mainline pilots voted in scope easements....(I'm not trying to be argumentative, if you can believe that).

Originally Posted by Q1 Conference Call

Richard Anderson ... we close on Pinnacle May 1, and it will not replace Comair but will become the most efficient, best-run regional carrier. We actually have -- no, we actually -- it's really important to note this because this is...

Helane R. Becker - Cowen Securities LLC, Research Division - laughed out loud - I'm sorry.

Richard H. Anderson - Chief Executive Officer and Director
Well, this is a big strategic advantage for Delta that I don't think people quite understand. We have fixed kind of the scale and cost issues that have plagued the regional carrier industry. So Pinnacle will probably, as a wholly-owned subsidiary, we have a cap scale and a flow-up agreement now. So we probably will end up having a 20% to 25% all-in once we get it all fully up and running and the 50-seaters out and the 70- and 76-seaters in. We'll have a very significant competitive advantage on the regional industry. And number two, we'll have the ability to really control the product and make it same as the mainline. So very important strategic initiative that we have because the whole up-gauge -- the whole up-gauging strategy is a really massive change in this industry because all those 50-seater airplanes were bought when fuel was $20 a barrel. And when you take the original purchase assumptions and now overlay them on what fuel is today and what the scales were 15 years ago for pilots and flight attendants and overlay where they are today at the independent regionals, that's a very tough equation. And we've actually solved through that equation, and we're going to take our regional carrier fleet down from probably a peak of around 700 -- 600, 700 airplanes down to the low 400s, and we're going to have the best cost structure and the best operations.

Helane R. Becker - Cowen Securities LLC, Research Division
That's huge. And as we think about that then, how many years should we allow for that? I know it's in the pilot contract, right? It's like 2 to 3 years?

Richard H. Anderson - Chief Executive Officer and Director
Well, no, we should be -- we should really, I think in 24 -- well, it's a 7-year pilot contract, Mike Campbell reminds me. But in terms of getting the shift done, it's really in the next 18 to 24 months. And that's where you see a big improvement in our regional carrier line. And we have a big ASM pickup because we're going to be able to operate the airline, the total Delta airline with probably a couple hundred fewer airplanes and still have the same ability to produce ASMs. So there's so much operating leverage in this move that we're excited about closing on the Pinnacle transaction.

Originally Posted by Bucking Bar (Post 1397775)

We did.
As details start to come out about how Pinnacle will become mainline, early plans sure sound like an alter ego. Since they sit at the table with Delta, with ALPA's blessing, we are going to have to deal with that in 2015 (just as Anderson started to say).

Originally Posted by PinnacleFO (Post 1397805)

Where are you hearing we will be mainline? I hear we will have mainline managers ... and an interview to mainline in 5 years or more for most of us. Are plans changing behind the scenes?

Originally Posted by Bucking Bar (Post 1397829)

Do we know who builds the stuff Wall Mart sells? Do we even know if a chair is made by one vendor or shifts to another?

Pinnacle is a vendor. There is nothing special about Pinnacle.

ALPA's attorney has told us there is nothing exclusive about mainline's relationship with Delta either. We lack the autonomy necessary for it to even be our concern who Delta subcontracts its flying to.

I am saying you will be mainline and not know it. When you get to mainline the distinction may not be so great a difference. ALPA has reduced our status to that of simply a vendor and most of us have not figured that out yet. We did not have to go this direction, but when ALPA did allow Pinnacle to enjoy greater exclusivity than the Delta pilots not a single elected Rep objected to the reduction in status for their pilots.

We will be alter egos of one another. From here all the choices are unpleasant for the profession, but some are less ugly than others.

In 2015 we will have to deal with the fact that management has a choice of vendors and will naturally pick the least expensive. The Delta MEC will have to compete for our business. Your contract is concessionary ... are we going to match that?

The better choice will be to try to get you on board and reduce the in house competition for our services, but, this would be an exact reversal of what Lee Moak pushed with Compass.

Our bargaining independent of each other is going to move the whipsaw to mainline.

There is no magic here folks. One has to ask, why was it such a bad idea to own ASA, Comair and Compass, then such a great idea to own Pinnacle? What changed?

I hope Slowplay will pop up to debate the strategic precedent we made by inviting another bidder to the table ....

Originally Posted by filejw (Post 1397843)

Reading between the lines here I think the plan is to keep E9 rates low by use of the flow.Long term it's a smart plan.Hire the people you want into E9 keep them at a low regional rate then move them on to mainline.