Sorry. I wasn't implying that the purchase was made to maintain an account. I meant Delta would gain Microsoft corporate accounts in return. A handshake deal if you will. It's simply my opinion. I don't know if Microsoft already flies with Delta. If they do, then disregard.

Didn't mean to flame you, sorry. This all just reeks of the old 4th floor style mismanagement. We're the largest, most profitable airline in the world. We ought to have the best equipment available to us. I've researched this device and it screams 'totally useless'. The RT platform is a massive, epic failure. The boss of the company just quit. If this were a true Windows (ala Surface pro 2) tablet I'd be more than happy. As it is, we've just invested in obsolescent technology. If we really needed to do this to get Microsoft to like us more, then we should just donate them to schools in Bolivia and buy something that works.

Here's PCWorld's take on the tablet we're getting:

Microsoft's Surface 2 tablet follows faithfully in the footsteps of failure | PCWorld

A few more opinions:

Supposedly Microsoft is already our largest corporate account. I know we have separate Microsoft check-in lines in Seattle.

No worries. I understand where you're coming from. I read some of those reviews too. BLAH.

Thanks. I wonder how long we've had their account.

You Surface 2 haters are full of hops.

It is really the best device out there for what Delta wants to do. In fact Surface 2, if people will keep an open mind, will be a terrific piece of enterprise level kit for the reasons covered here:

Windows RT: Fortified against malware | Security - InfoWorld

Delta could care less if you don't have a dedicated Facebook App ... boo flipping hoo ... you'll have to run your Skype, Facebook, type stuff on Internet Explorer 10. But even so IE10 is tons better than any browser that runs on the iPad.

For us the Surface 2 is cool because it will be a powerhouse of a Tablet, something like 6 times as fast an iPad for some tasks. It cuts through 1080p video like butter. We can set up our own User Accounts and have reasonable independence from the Administrator, while using full Office productivity tools, real HDMI, USB3, the latest WiFi protocols and being able to print from it easily.

Windows accessory keyboards are the best in this marketplace and with the aux battery / keyboard a lot of us could probably leave the charger at home and be fine. That combo should have something like a 15 hour + life (and perhaps well over 20 hours) the thing already has 15 days of standby power without the aux battery accessory.

From a system administrator viewpoint, this thing is perfect. I don't know if it will replace my personal EFB, but we've already got one coming for the wifey (since I'm the system admin at my house and hate dorking with her computers).

In semi related news, my hacked tablet is running a distro called "Brazillian Wax" ... guess the nerd figured that was as smooth as it could be made :)

That's why Delta probably should remain well clear of anything like and Apple or full Win 8.1 product ... some nerd like me would try to hack it & just break the thing.

Delta is ahead of the curve on this.

Let's get down to brass tacks.

What's the porn situation? Is it trackable? :D :eek:

Good stuff, but here's the important question....will we be able to pick the color for our covers?

Here's Tsquares

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/8853/0header.jpg

I'm sure one of those personalized tablet cases places could do that for you.

10 hour battery life?

So is it going to be plugged in somewhere for our 15-17+ hour legs?

As long as it will quickly, easily and adequately display all the Jepp pages and charts we need, I don't really care about how it does Facebook, video games or Angry Birds.

Words with Friends would be nice, I'm sick of that Alec Baldwin kicking my arse with that!

If the ALV is 80 you're at the max allowed on the contract so now you have to add pilots, no different then flying the jet 12.1 hours and no different then adding 10 more jets, you changed the question.

There are constraints via the staffing formula and PWA and I said I have X amount of hours figure out how to do it with Y number of pilots that fit those constraints then you could figure it out. If I say X plus 47% more, but I'm going to give you the same number of pilots, figure it out, you can figure it out.

There's a range that they have to work with. If the number is 80 or 75 only that's one thing, but having a 75-80 range and 60 hours max on reserves on average, you can make it to where block hours can go up and you can use the same number of pilots.

You can have a BH ratio, I don't care, but I want a fleet count. (see below)

Without an airplane you fly 0 hours. Just one of those God given restraints in life, no airplane, no block hours.

Sure, if you divide by only one number. Make it a range and add reserves. Say a range of 55-65 hours for block holders and a max of 30 for reserves (since 60 was the average I'll go low). Give me 12 pilots per jet, 1800 total in both equations and I can staff a 47% increase with the same number of pilots using the same restraints. I'll save the math, if you want it I'll post it.

Not necessarily, my X is the same number of pilots per jet. Not to unlike the 14 pilots per 717 that was touted last year mind you, I didn't hear anything about how many BH they'd fly, just that each jet equaled a certain number of pilots.

But give me an ALV (TLV would be the same) and reserve constraint and I can get the same number of pilots to fly 47% more block hours in the said example. You said block hours are all that matters, I'm out to prove that's not true... using math.