Air Force Academy grad?:p

No, but he's LA-based. ;)

My Delta buddy just fowarded me the e-mail. Great news for you guys. Obviously I have my own selfish reasons for being happy about it, but I'm sure it's good to see a little movement on your end.

Underboob for everybody!

Now where's my lucky rabbit's foot?

I was surprised there are still 200 on furlough bypass. Anyone have any idea how many of those 200 are on Mil. Leave, vs. flying at Jet Blue, SWA, FDX, etc. and how many of the 200 will actually come back?

Hiring is great, finally, but if they are looking for only 300 for all of 2014, and all 200 bypass's come back, well, that means they're really only going to hire 100, ie. two classes of 50.

On the other hand, if none of the 200 on bypass come back, that's only 6 classes of 50, (or 6mo. of hiring) unless the economy starts to recover (and what about Europe?) and booking for next summer improve dramatically and they decide to hire a lot more than 300.

Or...maybe it's just a job shift, from all the 50 seat RJ's being parked, to fill the 717 slots for next summer?

I wish oil prices would come down, that would help everyone's 'recovery', but the talking heads are saying it'll be over $4.00/gallon pretty soon. That's not going to help.

That's OK. Because that's what ALPA told us we wanted! (Based on the unverified survey results.)

Less time off and a barely-COLA hourly rate increase. Win!

Hey, at least Delta is paying lip service to hiring again...a year later than they and ALPA promised it while pushing for the TA.

The good news is, junior guys will initially move even further backwards, as bypass folks return. (Granted, it will be less than 200.)

Timbo, I was furloughed in 01' and bypassed for awhile before coming back in 2008. I suspect that most of the 200 will not come back. There are guys in my newhire class and other friends who have moved on after 10+ years. Some at FedEx, some at other carriers, some completely out of flying altogether. The FedEx guys ain't coming back, the JetBlue guys, I imagine, are split.

Now Mil Leave is "a whole 'nother thing." Most of the ML guys I know are already back. They got their retirement in and returned.

Oil prices suck. Especially in California.

Thanks Buzz, I figured most of the Mil. guy would be getting finished up by now, but I guess if they are still on active duty orders, they can keep bypassing, right?

I think the military leave guys are kind of an unknown. For instance I'm an 08 hire and a classmate of mine just went on MIL leave last month. The MIL leave guys seem to come and go now. Some were likely holding out though. I think 100 furlough bypass guys at most will return.

It's been more than a year since AF Reserves put the kibosh on long term AD orders, that gravy train has left. A few still around but not the numbers in the past decade. All the guys at Westover are back at their airlines, if they were recalled. UAL guys are still bumming, tho.

GF

Yep, but most are approaching, if not at, the 20 year retirement mark. That's the wild card. If you had 8 years of service, got out, were hired by DAL, furloughed in 2001/2002, you are now at 20 years, more or less. What a perfect time to come back? If, however, you went back into the services and are enjoying your promotions and lifestyle, you realize that the legacies don't pay nearly what they did in 2001, you might think twice....especially if you haven't been actively flying for the last 10 years.

I dunno. I think it's like a jury trial in Florida....who knows?