And again, I have never intimated otherwise. We have given up a lot. But a contract negotiations is just that... negotiations. The company is going to want something that we do not want. Ergo, what you and 88driver call a giveback will be asked for. You have three options. Agree to it entirely, say no, or try to soften the blow with a gain somewhere else. What I hear from you and him is that we have already given, so we will not do that. Got news for ya, that won't work. But Carl, Timmy and that bunch probably think we will be showing big balls if we go down that path. At least that is the impression I get from them... I firmly believe that we can get 100% restoration of payrates (whatever that is) on day 1. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. Of course it might cost us some more productivity enhancements or 2 weeks of vacation, or maybe a minimum ALV of 90... but it could be done. Do you want that? So think about it again. Everything is negotiable.

Picked up a 3 day Rome. It's been awhile since I was there last. Any good ideas on food and drink? Cheers H

DEC A's are out... where are by backdoor B's at, yo??

They both suck there. You need to drop that immediately. I'll be happy to take it for you... you know, cause that's what friends do for one another

What a bunch of BS.

In normal negotiations, where two parties are on roughly equal footing, there is give and take. But in a situation where one party has absolutely taken extreme and unfair advantage over the other, negotiations are not normal. Given the severity of the cuts we've taken, we're not going to achieve restoration (or anything close to it) with the normal negotiation mindset of "you give us something and we'll give you something in return." Professional negotiators can smell the kind of vibe that you (and DALPA) give off from a mile away. And they will absolutely continue to bury us if we keep that kind of mindset. "What do you want to give up to get that?" That's the mindset of DALPA. Apparently, you agree with it.

Surrender if you want. Give up on the value of this profession and the rest of our careers. But understand there are many of us who have too much respect for this profession to be willing to go along with that.

Man, I suck at bidding. How do you screw up a reserve bid? That's all I really wanted. I managed to do it.

The good news is my default bid was a line of time and it wasn't half bad.

As my dad used to say: You, son, could screw up a wet dream.

I respect your wanting to restore the profession but I would say 100% of Delta Pilots want to restore the profession, our differences lie in how we achieve said goal. Our contract 2000 was the result of decades of pattern bargaining up and we made it to the top of the profession. After 9/11 we started a decade of pattern bargaining down and preserving as much as possible and I believe DALPA did the best job for the majority of it's constituents. We are now pattern bargaining up and for the first time in years I see a chance for some meaningful gains. Contract 2012 we were alone, already at the top of the legacies. For Contract 2015 we have support and as long as the new AA pilots don't screw the pooch we will be in great shape. Delta has traditionally paid it's pilots at a premium to other airlines and I don't see that changing. I will gaurantee 1 thing and that is Delta will not pay us a premium of 25% to other pilot groups. I hate to say this but the laws of supply and demand and basic economics still apply no matter how aggrieved you feel about the past.

Great post DAL 88

It's sad that I can say that I have heard one of our former 44 Ca reps say "What are you willing to give up for that" and I'm not convinced our current MEC has a different mindset. We shouldn't be giving any concessions at this point, none!

So you don't believe in negotiations ?, I guess in your world we don't negotiate we just demand. I wish I believed in your world, unfortunately, I live in the real world.

Compass just announced a LAX crew base opening up in February 2014 so I don't think the LAX-SFO shuttle is going to be shifting to mainline any time soon. In fact, more Compass flights to other destinations out of LAX (albeit ones already flown by other Delta Connection carriers) will be added next year.