The first time you put that picture up I cried from laughing so hard. And I hope I never see a scene like that. We are almost done with diapers.

We are 1 year into the new contract. It has been widely labeled here as a sales job by dalpa. Several other people have defended its merits vigorously.

IMO, bigbusD deserves some significant respect for his viewpoints since he is a well proven pilot advocate. So, when he says there is too much gloom on here, it made me reflect.

Despite my belief that 717s were coming anyway and my distinct distaste that we have apparently shifted away from the old 3b6 section where new aircraft pay rates had to be settled before the aircraft could operate (to now actually using aircraft purchases as a carrot rather than a business decision).

I would like to de-gloom a bit and see if we can put a positive spin on where we are versus where we were a year ago.

Using this methodology, maybe we can determine if dalpa/ALPA is our advocate or if they are an extension of management who gets 1.9% of our pay for crowd control.

I would love to de-gloom. However, having a union that has demonstrated contract after contract that a larger scale of DCI, more 737 outsourcing and international codeshares are "beneficial" gets a bit old. From the reps I have talked with they were always pro-TA but could never come up with answers to the questions I had. They would end up with this glossed over look in their eyes like I had peeled back the banana to see if it was actually good underneath yet they knew it was not.

Time will tell if this this contract works out, but its hard to believe that work rule concessions leading to displacements prior to a potential SLI is not very good. What makes me turn the flame on a few in this thread is guys defending something they do not fully understand, having view points that are emotional and traditional vs fact and history based. I have not met a single pilot from another airline or even flown with a guy who thought this TA was a scope win. Scope is section 1 for a reason, we flat lost.

Toga,

Make no mistake, I agree with you. I'm trying to discern where we "won". That is the point of my post. I want to hear "all the good" I want to see promises fulfilled.

During the release of our TA I had this discussion with a friend of mine who was on the negotiating committed for another major airline, and he thought it was a major win - not that I agreed with his view...
I couldn't agree more.

I know my view of DCI is not popular. A lot of folks said DAL was going to do this or that if we did this or that. Or simply take the stance "Delta was not just going to lose money by keeping the CRJ200." I would not bank have banked on that. No one knows who is going to do what in certain situations, no matter how hard you wish or feel it does not happen.

I am not happy with ALV+15, the pay, giving the company an extra day in the month to make their life easier.....etc etc...

But positive in my mind, we reached the Apex of DCI flying in this TA. 76 seats were here and DAL had options for more with very weak language to prevent more. This TA cleared up DCI scope definitions about A/C types and Alter egos. Let's not forget their lawyers are better than ours (why do we pay sooo much $$ in dues for that fact is beyond me). We have hard caps, real numbers of DCI aircraft gone and leaving. Total DCI pilots total DCI seat and Total DAL Pax on DCI A/C is limited and trending down. That to me was the APEX and turning point to stem the tide. The next TA will perhaps bring even better terms than the this. The 717 will not last forever and a 100 seat replacement will be needed. Alaska TA is terrifying. No Section 1 at all. That is a merger in hell scenario that will put my boots on the picket line.

Just my $.02 but I have not heard any factual point from anyone on here to convince me that DCI (not the JV or Code) was not an improvement. 76 seats v 50 seats is no different. It is still not our flying and they are doing much less of it. That is fact..... Not emotion. It is a positive start.

Fiig

It simply makes them much more viable. With high oil, the 50 seaters were simply shriveling up and dying. They could be very well flown at Delta and overall profitably. Doing so, however, the company would lose leverage with its pilots. The corollary to that is.......

Just talked directly with a Chief Pilot who said we are currently overmanned system wide by around 700 Pilots! I really hope that this is not correct. :cool: Anyone else hear a similar number?:confused:


Scoop

Interesting. Who informs Tim whether someone is a "good candidate"?

Lets recap. Before out TA AA and CAL owned all flying over 50 seats, AA had a few dozen CRJ-700s. United only had CRJ-700s (70 seats) and they were tied to domestic block hours. DAL by far had the worst scope control and furthered CRJ-900s quite a bit. Now look where the industry is; everyone gave up scope right after our sell out for pay.

Pinnacle gets 40 more additional CRJ-900s, announces a new MSP HQ and MSP narrow body flying vanishes much like it has in SLC and LAX with Skywest and AS. Yet we call this a win?