[QUOTE=daldude;1537939]Just read the new procedure to get from the plane to the hotel van pick point in JFK. To include taking either the Howard Beach or Jamaica Station Train to Federal Circle, just to get to the hotel van pick up point. Has anyone done this yet? How long did it take to get to hotel from plane?

It appears to me this process could take 50 to 70 min just to get from the plane to sitting on the van. If this is the case it is unacceptable and not in compliance with the spirit of PWA section 5.E.5 addressing the 20 min wait before obtaining transportation.

Why are we giving up terminal to hotel transportation? This is just the continuing trend of QOL issues being given away. Or am I making to big of a deal out of this?

Its being mandated by the airport authority. Its 5 to 6 minutes on the train to Federal station. You save time by the shorter drive distance in the van. In traffic it might in fact be faster. If however you come into terminal 2 where there is no train stop it becomes a real issue. Terminal 4 its not even a real inconvenience.

A more accurate comparison would be our M88, 737, and 320 pilots vs SWA. I leave out the DC-9's and 717's because they are fleets in transition.

I actually would have expected a even bigger difference from a revenue standpoint. Our widebodies generate a tremendous amount of revenue per pilot. I once listened to one of our CEO state that he would not mind paying 777 Captains 500 dollars an hour back in 2001. He said the aircraft generated the revenue to support that wage. He then added however that if he agreed to that we would demand 400 dollars an hour for a 737 and that would put the airline out of business in a short time as the aircraft could not generate the revenue to support that wage. He then produced charts showing revenue from each aircraft type. The results were surprising. A 777 or any large widebody is a revenue generating machine!!!!!
To have a more meaningful comparison to SW you need to compare revenue on like equipment. I am not sure that number is easy to find.

She made that statement to the MEC. The powerpoint had something almost the same. The NMB has in practice applied that exact definition in dealing with airlines. She mentioned in her chat with the MEC icing American as a example. The power point and her discussion also made it clear that if she had to get involved we were looking at 3 years minimum because of their backlog.

Although Leo Mullin was an idiot who's negligence nearly killed Delta, I will agree with his general point that big airplanes should pay much more than they do ... unfortunately ... the converse is also true ... there should not be as many 50 seat Captains making $120,000 to $150,000 a year.

It has long been my point that if you distribute pay along a productivity curve it would make sense to redistribute pay upwards from the RJ's; if the RJ's were captured at mainline. But, as separate entities with nontransferable longevity they negotiate the most they can get.

Consider that more than a handful of Delta pilots took a $100,000 a year pay cut to start over here. IMHO capturing that flying even at reduced rates is preferable to the loss of a pilot's longevity mid career.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/a...psab724920.png

I don't know about 80, but I don't cheer against God. Ymmv.

Your correct that would be a more accurate number however I could not find that data broken out. In general the wifebodies have less credit then the narrow bodies so that would reduce narrow body productivity at Delta slightly.
Another factor is training costs. They run about 10 percent of pilot costs at Delta. SW also has training costs but far less. Assuming SW is about 2 percent of their pilot costs then 8 percent of our cost disadvantage over SW is driven by management fleet choices.

What do we do from Terminal #2? Hoof it? Or, bus to #4?

The Hotels were pushing for this change for years. As a junior reserve guy getting DH to NY a lot; the transportation never showed up. I used to take the train to Federal Station because that was the only way to get reliably picked up without a 30 to 45 minute wait for "he'll be right there." Talking to the drivers, they basically wanted to refuse driving to the airport because of the traffic/inconvenience/time away from the coffee and paper at the hotel.

Hoof it to terminal 1 or ride the bus to terminal 4.

This has always been allowed under both the old and new rest rules. Under the old rules if you add a relief pilot you could fly 12 hour days with no restrictions on legs. The new rules allow something similiar but reduce the time for the number of legs. Lots of airlines fly turns like this with relief pilots. They will continue to do that under 117.
At Delta our contract prohibits this practice unless a rest seat meeting minimum contractual standards is installed. The cost to put that type of seat into the entire A320, 737 fleet has kept Delta from making the switch. Instead Delta chooses to double crew those flights. One crew flies and the other DH's. We are the only airline doing that. Everyone else puts the relief guy in a passenger seat. Some airlines use coach others first class.