That Chief Pilot had to have been a complete A##hat to do something like that. I hope he is long gone from Flt ops.

With that said, I did complain to Ops and I guess the policy was changed following that to have a Delta Staff member escort you out. I believe we were one of the first to turn our I.D.s and such in.

"Most?" That sounds like some fuzzy math.
Carl is one of the most popular guys here. He's built up more goodwill here than you and I ever will. Even those who don't share his opinion, value his contribution. He's trying to make this a better place to hang our hats.

The shortest tenure for pre merger DAL pilots on furlough for FM 1 would have been just shy of the 2 year point. The longest tenure without an opportunity to return (TK) was just over 5 years and 3 months. Everyone out longer than that would have been because of the individual choice to bypass recall. Pilots now returning from furlough bypass have been out for 11-12 years with the exception of some pre merger NWA pilots who have been out for 7-8 years since their last furlough.

I believe the pilots who have chosen not to return were likely never going to return. They bypassed when recall came and sent in a letter prior to the 10 year point to preserve one last option to return because they had nothing to lose by doing so. While it is noteworthy to see how many chose not to return, it's also interesting to note the 30+ JBLU 320 Captains who have been there for 10+ years that are returning to Delta. I don't think either of these things will have any effect on negotiations for our next contract.

There were some guys who were destroyed by the furlough. I heard some very sad stories. There were also some guys who went on to do some astounding things, and very lucrative things. You can say what you want about the rocking chair, but Delta hired some highly intelligent people to fly airplanes. Most of the guys I've worked with throughout the years could have done anything they dreamed of. It's too bad that we can't just boil down our needs to "mo money, mo time off". Get everyone rowing in the same direction for the first time in a generation.

Really? :confused::confused:

I hear ya. My last day is burned in as well. Not because I got escorted out, but the flight itself. I was down in MCO on the 737-200. On the last leg, the CA makes a PA about this being my last flight, furloughed, 9-11 etc, etc. Well, either something got lost in translation or those old 737's PA systems were so bad that the folks only heard a word here or there. At any rate, as I stood in the door saying goodbye, almost every pax was congratulating me and or wishing me luck. My best guess is that they either thought I was moving on to better things, or that I was military and was going to go fight. At the time, all I could think was, "What the heck is going on?" I basically just got fired, and am being congradulated for it!?? Weird to say the least.

Did you live in DFW? What did they do for commuting pilots? How did they get home?

Well, I seem to remember using the snow blower multiple times for a number of years to clear the driveway for a furloghee's family while he was on deployment.

And, I never flew a green slip while anyone was on furlough because I never could have looked him in the eye again. ALPA didn't have to tell me the difference between right and wrong. I just did it all by myself.

It was a happy day when he returned to the line. There but for the grace of God go any one of us at one time or another.

I got my furlough notice early in Jan 03 from NWA, to go into effect on 1 Feb. I had been bumped back to reserve on the 9 and had just moved in to what turned out to be a really bad crash pad. There was about a foot of snow on the ground (and increasing). I was in a pretty bad place mentally. I called up my AF reserve commander and explained my situation and asked him what he could do. He called me back about three hours later and jokingly told me I was AWOL, because he had activated me an hour earlier. I really enjoyed relaying that message to crew scheduling.

Thank god for the AF Reserve. The whole point of this post was to tell new hires to make sure you have a plan B. Sorry, I posted the first time before I meant to.