If anybody has the deets on taking your spouse to SCL, please send me a PM. I know I have to pay 160, but exactly where that takes place in the airport and can we get it done without delaying the crew bus? Thanks in advance.

 

That's true. Their knowledge and my best interests don't always align. And after the bankruptcy negotiations I wouldn't think you would blindly trust them either.

Tr

 

Hit the nail on the head.

Our bagtags and lanyards ought to say "C2016: Industry-Leading EVERYTHING!" and we ought to start wearing them now. Time to start shaping the battlefield.

That should be our (and DALPA's) goal...not three years from signing, or in a couple of cherry-picked areas using the company's/DALPA's jointly formulated fuzzy math.

RA and management want to be an "industry leading airline" without conceding an "industry leading" contract. It's their job to try to get away with it. So it's up to us to say, "you want to be an industry leading airline. Then show us an industry-leading contract". It's up to us to convey that message to DALPA. And we've got to be prepared to use every (legal) resource at our disposal to make it happen.

Of course shiznit, sailingfun, slowplay, acl65, and a host of others will tell us that's impossible, and once again attempt to lower our expectations heading into the contract.

But I'm optimistic that we won't buy DALPA's expenditure-reducing and responsibility-shirking methods again this time; at least not 62% of us.

 

I non-revved in there with my daughter in Feb '13 and we both had to pay the Chile fee as neither of us had been there before. There was a reasonably organized system, with a ticket window setup (sorta looks like any other int'l stations immigration queue) where I swiped my credit card, got our stamps and we were on our way. I know that doesn't help you much as a working crew, but we did end up going through customs/immigration right with the Delta crew that flew us in - we probably got off the plane 10 minutes before they did being in the first row of Economy comfort.

Bottom line, if your wife gets off the plane quickly and near the front of the line, she shouldn't be too delayed getting through the reciprocity tax line, and you could meet up with her prior to hitting immigrations/customs. Have fun SCL is a blast.

Edit: to follow-on, ~ 1/3 of our flight seemed to be Chileans who obviously don't have to pay the fee. Also, anyone that already has the stamp doesn't have to stop in the line. It is not a choke point when you pass the reciprocity line (meaning the Chileans/those with stamps just keep walking.) I think we were in/out of that line in 5 minutes. You could have her hustle off the plane and then just meet her just past the reciprocity tax line, where she will probably be finished and waiting for you.

Also, be aware that when non-revving out, they don't clear standbys until they are given a seat. So if you're working, you will already be on the airplane and won't really know if she's going to make it or not. We got to the airport 2-3 hours before departure, and ended up waiting around at the ticket counter for our names to be called - which was 20 minutes prior to push. We then ended up hauling ass through a very slow security/immigration (again for some reason?) line and ended up getting on board right at last call. That was definitely the most stressful part of the SCL airport experience. Arriving was a breeze, getting out not so much.

 

Anyone know if there are any sims left in Natco? Friend of a friend was called recently to head back over there and fire things up again...

 

A year out from openers, and you have already built your "no" nest. You even have scapegoats already.

 

Are you implying that an industry-leading contract should not be our goal?

 

Ignore you?? Hell no!! Why would I want to? It's like watching a train wreck in slo-mo.
You deserve a industry-leading contract, 'cause you're industry leading. You add value to the team.

 

That's fine, but I do not believe that an industry-leading contract will be enough. From reading through various industry contract comparisons, we already lead the industry in a majority of areas. Even bringing us up above everyone else in the remaining areas would not be enough to restore our buying power to that of 2004, 1996, or any other years you'd like to name. (Even C2K did not fully restore Delta pilots' buying power to that of the late 1980's.)

I believe that, to the extent that the Company is as profitable as it was in the late 90's, we should be compensated as we were in the late 90's (adjusted for inflation).

 

I could be wrong, but aren't the carriers that serve that market mostly low cost leisure carriers that pay their pilots considerably less than we make? If so, I assume that they charge a leisure market fare as well, with considerably lower margins than Delta needs to be substantially profitable.