I don't think you can paint all the furlough bypassers with that brush. One guy from my class bypassed because he was a senior A320 captain at Jetblue. He was making a lot more there than he would have made coming back in 06. Now, he will be close to even or so, and going forward will make a lot more career wise at Delta, hence, his return.

Timbo, you nailed it!

Plus ours, the Mad Dog is longer than most other guys planes :eek:

Mr. LUV,
So true,
There are 190+ different reasons for bypassing the recall. Mine was as you stated! After my second furlough from NWA in 2 years, I got on with a carrier that paid 20K/ YR less, but worth every penny in being Home Based.
Another motivating factor in delaying recall was as Timbo stated the "Character Building" aspects of the MD aircraft. Nothing like doing 6 legs in a DC-9 out of DTW with 3 airplane changes, a 4 hour productivity break, paid 4:15 for the day and NEVER leaving the State of Michigan on your last day before furlough.
It is real hard to return to the commuting life style, flying 1 leg and being paid 10+ hours and having a 5 day layover in Larnaca, Cyprus on the beach. Or the joy of launching 3 golf balls into the Iranian Embassy compound playing on the "Achem", "National Golf Course" of Ethiopia.
None the less, looking forward to understanding controllers again and hearing my 2 favorite words ...."Radar Contact"...
Based on the numbers CR gave me...looks like commuting to DTW or NYC in the A320 or B737.

MD88 drivers fear not!

CG RES Q

Macguyver altert from MD88 Flight Test
 

Thought I'd take a break from the MD88 Post Production Flight Test and ReCertification department to share a techie tidbit.

Next time your Flight Attendants lose their phone chargers (leave them plugged into the Galley, etc ...) you can remember your basic High School Chemistry to Macguyver them a battery with whatever clinks around at the bottom of those 55lb suitcases. Needed, one pre-1982 penny, an aluminum strip from a soda can .... some of Intels new chipsets will run on a glass of wine ...


Courtesy of your MD88, Post Production Test Flight and Work Around Dept. Where we constantly ask ourselves ... if he had no budget ... insufficient training ... and just didn't really care ...

Agreed. ............................

That too. .....................................

It's not like the furlough bypass guys are coming back to some great windfall. I know that most of them are still in the bottom 18% of the seniority list, after 13 years. So leave the guys alone. Surly there career has been ****ty enough with out bagging on them from within.

It works!

Here's a question, if AirTran built an airline off DC9s and DC-717s, can one build a stand alone airline off CS100s or 300s?

AirTran built their airline off scrap dc9s and then deeply discounted 717s paid for with a stock swap. The bombardiers are like starting a car rental company with new 911s. It might work, but there is a lot more likelihood that it would be unsustainable. IMO.

Maybe Alliegient is a better example of what you are referring to, but sure, eventually. A better person to ask would be Robert Priddy and you'd find him at Alliegient.

Of course there have been several operators who have used that platform to go broke.

Val-u-jet was a unique blip in aviation history for a number of reasons. First, they had very experienced management who had cut their teeth at Eastern, then created a very successful start up under Delta's nose in the form of Atlantic Southeast Airlines. There was for some time the plan to turn ASA into Val-u-Jet which some of us jokingly called "Val-u-Prop." In any event, both of these schemes bounced around in the same office space the Delta MEC occupies today. The Chief Pilots at ASA who briefed new hires on DC9 & 737 acquisitions were not completely without some basis ...a board room split at ASA gave birth to what would someday be AirTran.

Delta helped by demonstrating palpable arrogance in the market place. At that time Delta was very unfriendly (which corresponded to Ron Allen's leadership). Eastern had left hole in the market. Delta's rates were often 400% more than than Val-u-Jet's less-reliable service. Val-u-Jet had a surprisingly good and easy frequent flier program and would greet me at the gate with a friendly "Good Morning Dude, we got you a seat in First" without my having to ask. A free flight was alike a free meal at IHOP. Six flights = free trip.

Capitalization is always an issue for these start ups. Cheap re-leased airplanes with cheap MRO and spares availability are a god send to opportunistic entrepreneurs who have grand ideas and limited cash.

Interestingly, Delta has been opportunistically grabbing these opportunities as they operate the Douglas fleet way past it's "guaranteed fresh" date. Richard Anderson is a very smart cash flow guy with the soul of a street fighting entrepreneur.

But, eventually this business comes down to margins. With a 25% plus cash operating cost benefit* and better ageing aircraft maintenance plan, Bombardier has a very compelling product. Delta has bought something like 12.5 Billion dollars worth of Bombardier and Embrear products which is far more than Delta has spent on mainline acquisitions over the same time period.

We have yet to see if Delta can be compelled to put that sort of CapEx into it's mainline operation.

I still say (with no support what so ever) that C2012 could have seen a large C Series order for DCI if our union had not cut the deal they did. The C Series will have an approximately 36% ASM cost differential with the 717. I've no idea if that's sufficient to justify the payments (and Bombardier is holding firm on pricing, they're true believers in the product).

* Of course that 25% margin is getting eroded as GE refines their LEAP X and everyone seems to have a new winglet to try out.