Airline Pilot Central Forums - Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?

Airline Pilot Central Forums (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/)

- Delta (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/delta/)

- - Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta? (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/delta/36912-any-latest-greatest-about-delta.html)

OK, I see your post to TOGA, posted just before my previous. Adds a little color to the discussion. Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sink r8 (Post 1613050)

I'll have to agree that it would be foolish for the "the forum" to have predicted furloughs, but I'm not the forum, just a poster, and I seem to recall the controversy was over hiring, when SD wrote to us in 2012 we were likely to start hiring at the end of that year.

Which put you in a position to describe (logically) that we were actually gradually absorbing a surplus. Looks like we're getting close, but still few or no WB A positions, so a little way to go there.

Now, Flamer is sort of hit-and-miss on making sense, and +15% seems implausible. But it seems equally weird that we swung so hard into growth mode, that Flt Ops refused the schedule. I don't think Marketing would be allowed to flex capacity up more than GDP + 1 or 2%.

So... Last year we were fat except in NB B's, but now we can't flex up maybe 3-5%? Maybe you can be a little more specific about how much flying was taken off the table.

The problem is that we now run a schedule that varies far more from winter to summer then the norm in the past. Flight ops has to balance being short in the summer with being over in the winter. For the last few years we have been running the summer schedule right at the max for the pilots we have. They do this via massive amounts of overtime. That was already built into the summer plan and then marketing ups the block hours again. A extra class of new hires was added and a bid posted to cover more hours. Not much more they can do at this point.
They have to be very careful not to put themselves into a situation where they start to lose system reliability. If that happens the need for pilots goes up rapidly and with no surplus the system implodes. Many of us have lived that situation years ago. One staffing fact the forum ignores is that we are running a great airline and that reduces pilot needs substantially from the POS airline we ran for many years.
The March crew resources letter also discusses hiring and the reasons they are now short.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailingfun (Post 1613013)

If he is senior enough to hold it!

negative. they're just not putting people on reserve. anyone can have it if they want it, but you're going to work every day you are on, probably never even sit sc.

it will go back to a junior position as guys avoid it like the plague as they reduce reserve numbers in favor of lines and reroutes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsquare (Post 1612842)

Sounds like a good time to be bidding reserve.

tis tricky. when i bid in February for March i wasnt qualified off OE so why risk a 67 hour line vs 72 res. so i bid reserve and got unstacked into all weekends on. Had i bid a line I would have weekends off. same for April, i fly a line tue-thr all month, had I bid reserve I would have been unstacked into the part of the schedule where GS are most likely. Might not be many reserves but there are a lot of people who can put in a GS. but one thing for sure res looks ugly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by forgot to bid (Post 1613060)

In a circumstance with 7% reserves or less, a senior pilot would likely do well to bid reserve, place all of his X-days at the beginning of the month, and submit a 30-day GS request. At that point, you're right that he will sit no short calls, but neither will he do much (if any) flying on his on-call days.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailingfun (Post 1613021)

There is no way we could do that. The contract limits the company. FAR 117 further limits the company. They were basically maxed out last summer. 15 percent more this summer with 117 is a non starter.

Funny how nobody saw that coming either. :rolleyes:

Point of order: Network decides what airplanes fly where. Marketing advertises and sells tickets. Crew Resources tries to make Network happy. It's got nothing to do with marketing. (Irregardless :eek: of what you might think.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by forgot to bid (Post 1613066)

... but one thing for sure res looks ugly.

As ugly as Hillary Clinton to be exact, not just looks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsquare (Post 1613076)

Funny how nobody saw that coming either. :rolleyes:

I saw it coming. Now if everyone would just exercise their contractual right to put in a full month GSWC, we could certainly help flex up the schedule. I'll do my part.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TOGA LK (Post 1613034)

I wonder why they waited to hire? Perhaps they were hoping for something more with Alaska and when that fell through they needed the extra staffing sooner than later? But there has not been a pilot buildup out west yet flight attendants talk about positions opening in SEA all the time. Lots of conflicting information out there. The dynamics between less Alaska codeshare, build up of SEA (at some point and exactly when), 717 and 737 deliveries that cannot fit in NYC and ATL and putting newhires on a plane that is supposed to be reduced 25% after June is perplexing. Perhaps no other place to put them? I have been one or two steps ahead of this thing all along but now I cannot say as much. It's almost like we stopped retreating and went for a full frontal assault in a very short period of time.

Can any of the ALPA guys come out and say this was plan A all along? Did you know this much detail with regard to Alaska and SEA?

I'd agree with Sailing that the 1st qtr profit was a milestone DAL couldn't miss for S&P reasons. However, I don't think you are necessarily overthinking the ALK question. You may well be right on the ball.

ALPA guys can't come out and tell you about any plans...they sign non disclosure agreements...those agreements separate them from us (the unwashed represented masses) and make them appear cozied up to management...

For the record, I'm not anti collaboration on items of mutual benefit.