I bet there is an LOA in the works for us...I'm sure we'll hear about it after the fact...The wording will start with..."In our close relationship, We and Delta have worked out bla bla bla..."

You got a solution? These are new FARs, not a contract amendment, and they apply to the entire industry.

I think in the aggregate they will be better--no more scheduled 9 hour layovers reduced to 8 if you have subsequent "compensatory" rest. I always thought that was insane, as the minimum Air Force layover was 15+15 (and if you only had that the enlisted guys would gripe mightily).

On the other hand some of the really nice, "efficient" trips such as one leg ATL-CCS, layover for 9 hours, then fly one leg CCS-ATL, blocking 8 hours, but paying 10.5 are gone. Did you see the ATL-CCS trip (ATL 7ER) for Dec 31? It has a 33 hour layover instead of 9. So you get to spend 33 hours at the airport hotel in CCS for a three day trip that now pays 13.30.

In the short term there will be a lot of crappy deals. As marketing, crew resources, and the ALPA Rotation Construction Committee work together (which you don't get with a "burn the place down" mentality) I predict that many raw deals we may see in the first few months will be smoothed out. That said, there will, in the aggregate, be schedules that result in guys being on the road a bit more, and more reroutes. The lack of "legal to start, legal to finish" is the biggest change to all these FARs, and I can't believe that the airline industry lost that battle when these new FARs were written.

Just honestly curious.... What specifically would have been the magic bullet to remedy this situation??? Besides a crystal ball of course...

Not starting a fight, just asking you to help me understand what or how any Pilot union could have done to mitigate 117 if the government never finalized the rules until late?? No matter what, with our group nothing is ever good enough, I get that... But what would have been acceptable?? Just askin!!

Use it all the time, 75% off overnight or 2 day air prices. Just go to a kinkos or FEDEX location and show delta ID, they know what to do!

In Hawaii, all my family on the mainland get their presents fedexed after turkeyday, via next day air, beat the USPS for shipping prices and by about a week. They all thought I was insane shipping boxes via FEDEX next day air.
LUV

Probably will suck for the ATL guys, but in my base the trips have always sucked and the RCC never put out a memo apologizing for it. Get to know the reroute section well, and pack some extra socks!

If only there were a time every couple of years, to sit down and use leverage to negotiate trip rig type of improvements.

I agree, trip rig/duty rig would solve some of the programming issues without getting too deep into the topic.

I think also that 117 is going to flatten out international categories. Time will tell, but it is possible that Europe trips might become as "efficient" as ULH.

Exactly. I think your point is that we just had that chance in C12.

Once again, the company's playing chess... and our agent is playing checkers.

No more 24 hr Intl SC

I think it's going to be more of a change in the trips than all out crappy trips. Some longer overnights, some more deadheads, etc. Some people will like it and some will hate it. You might not be able to back trips up together to minimize commutes, etc. It's change. Many of us don't like change and already like the trips we do.