[QUOTE=flyallnite;1539176]It's slow for sure, but seeing as how we are adding 737's and A320's over the next few years, along with 330's and 717's, I'd think that number will come down significantly. There has always been a price at DL to be based out west, anybody thinking otherwise is kidding themselves.


I am an ATL based 88 hire. I just lost 2 numbers in my category. I can not remember the last time I moved up from an AE.

The narrow body positions you mention will be filled by new hires and recalls. When you hire you have to have a place to put them.
The ER positions will see some backfill on the next bid which surprises me but rumor has it that there is another reduction in 757 retirement numbers.

""The December AE award was posted on December 13, 2013. As we stated in the AE memo, our immediate focus is the M88 and 320. When we award an AE we run several simulations with different levels of backfilling to measure the training produced. We run our initial simulation as “wide open” and backfill all positions. For the initial December AE run, we had no problems filling the M88 and 320 Captain postings, but we had a large number of M88 and 320 First Officer openings.
We need to maintain as many current M88 and 320 First Officers as possible for January through March as we bring on new hires and flow-ups. As a result, we did not backfill the 7ER First Officer on the December AE. We will need to increase our 7ER First Officer levels by June in order to fly the summer schedule and will post another AE in approximately 45-60 days with 7ER First Officer openings. At this time, we do not know the categories where will see openings or to what level. Network is making their final adjustments to the summer schedule now and once they are complete we will make our staffing decisions based on the summer flying""

+1 The junior 320 captain is right around the 8000 now. That is surprising.

As far as not backfilling 7er FO's, believe it, or not, I see a little movement in the right direction.

Last year, they said they would not be backfilling (and they acted like they never would.)
For this AE, they are explaining why they aren't backfilling.
For future AE's, they said their will be openings for the summer schedule.

Are you supposed to be posting that, Sailing?

What do you mean by "back fills"? Never heard that term before.

Ah, I see. There used to be a page with the lower fares and instructions on how the JV thing worked.

Found it. Search for "JV Fares" and the second hit is what you're looking for. OA - ZED / JV Fare Chart. JV is about half price or so.

Thanks sailingfun, somehow I missed that CR blurb--thought I'd read all the verbage that came out with this AE and the Jan letter. That's marginally enough to keep my beaten-down hope alive as a wee ember.

Martin404, "backfill" means fill a position vacated when someone moves up.
The THEORY of seniority that this pyramid scheme all hangs on, is that the top senior guys will someday retire, and folks from below them will flow up into the senior spots. The ASSUMPTION we always made was that those lucky folks would leave their positions vacant, and that the company would BACKFILL those positions with other guys from below, who would leave open spots, which would be backfilled from below, etc.

When the airline keeps the same # of pilots, and guys retire off the top, the airline must hire the exact same # of new guys. It SHOULD result in everyone from top to bottom moving UP, increasing their Quality of Life, and the bottom-rung water-boys get to move up and have their heinous lot in life filled by NEW GUYS.

That's NOT what we're seeing at Delta however. Despite all the hoopla on "we're hiring!!" and "Big retirements coming soon!", the fact of the numbers is this: As guys retire out the top, OR as new pilot positions are created by Delta acquiring new jets, we are NOT "backfilling" those positions with an equal number of new guys. In fact, we are actually shrinking the airline by just not backfilling the top spots that empty out, currently at the 7ER f/o positions. The ILLUSION is being marketed that we're all moving up and things are improving... but the diligent tracking of the numbers shows that in fact the bottom of the list is not moving at all, as we shrink the 7ER category faster than new planes arrive, and thus shrink the pilot list faster than retirements are happening. Even the hiring succumbs to this illusion--we're hiring yes, but we're hiring LESS than the growth in aircraft would indicate we should... because what's really happening is we are shrinking the middle of the list faster than we're hiring to replace it.

So, say we retire 100 pilots and gain aircraft that should generate 200 pilot slots, that's 300 new pilots that should be needed to keep everyone stable without movement up or down. But we're hiring 80 (in this example, whose numbers are made up to illustrate the point for you). So, we get told this rosy-looking sunshine marketing hooplah: "Hey! We're finally hiring, new guys coming in below you, will push you up!" "Hey, new jets coming on board, we're gonna grow!" "Hey, guys are retiring, good days ahead!". But the truth is that all these are half-truth illusions that mask the REAL truth: we're shrinking faster than any of those growths, and we're doing it by more efficiencies. Delta desires to have fewer total pilots doing the same work, and we're getting there AE by AE. The truth of this shrinking is being well masked by the company and parroted by our union analysts. We are in essence just like the shopper that pays double for something because it was MARKED at triple price, then a salesman tells us, "30% off sale! Smoking deal for you!" and we "hyuck hyuck, garsh I'll take two of them!".
;O

Off topic...what's the best way to get from EWR to LGA (or JFK if easier). Cheers!

Best way? There are options.

Crew Runner if you time it right. The schedule is under IFS, NYC Base, on deltanet

NYC Airporter (there is no benefit to buying online)

NJ Transit to Penn Station, E Train to Jackson Heights, Q33 Bus to LGA

Cab

Thanks! Just looking for the quickest way around 4pm.