I have no idea what you were at risk for in that situation. I do know a pilot at Delta who got 1 year off for a dispatch issue however as you mention it involved MEL's and other issues.
The 30 day also involved a passenger issue that escalated and in the course of the investigation it came out that they were not released after blocking back in.
Another pilot I know at Delta got 30 days off for removing the seatbelt from the Jumpseat and using it for a passenger who's belt would not buckle on a full flight. Seemed extreme to me but you never know what the FAA is going to do.
In the case of both Delta suspensions the company paid the pilots the reserve guarantee while suspended because they felt they were trying to do the right thing. I doubt many airlines would do that.

 

Maybe this should be the threshold for our pay to start then as well

 

Two airlines I worked at previously required a rerelease if the aircraft had moved under its own power. I know that's not the case at Delta but it seems very strange that the FAA would approve both of those FOMs (one of which was written by NWA people and patterned after the NWA FOM) if that proviso was contrary to the regulations.

OTOH, sailing is 100% correct that many of the provisions of the FOM have the full force of regulations. For example, there is no FAR 91 or 121 requirement to fly a stabilized approach, it's a FOM requirement...but I have no doubt that if I continued an unstabilized approach to landing with a fed in the jumpseat, I'd get a violation.

 

I have my own story to add to the "gate agents making mindless decisions to preserve D-0" list. Two weeks ago my wife and I were trying to get down to Florida on the first day of Minnesota's spring break. Yeah, I know, but she's a teacher - we go when she's off, and we've had pretty good luck nonrevving during peak periods using creative routings. In this case, we narrowly missed a couple of flights and then went to our backup, a fairly empty flight to GRR, where there was an empty flight to Atlanta in the morning. We had listed but it was less than 30 mins when we tried to check in so the kiosk wouldn't let us; we just went to the gate. There was a single gate agent working it, we told him we were nonrevs but weren't checked in. He said no problem, there are a ton of seats, I'll get you on, just hang out. There were about 8 minutes left by the time he finished boarding. He started typing on his computer to check us in, couldn't find our listing for some reason, suddenly looked at his watch and exclaimed "I don't have time for this!" and ran down the jetbridge to close the aircraft door. It was D-6 and the plane left with 32 open seats. I politely discussed it with him when he came back up (he was able to find our listing then) and noted that as a captain at CPS, I had taken many delays to make sure DL employees got on. "Yeah, but you're a pilot, you can get away with that, we can't" was his excuse. It was another two days before my wife got out.

 

The problem is that one gate agent isn't enough to get everything done. I blame Delta, not the gate agent.

 

The Co. is going to have to get their ducks in a row over non-revenue travel. It is no longer a part of compensation.

 

Incorrecto. At NWA, you only required a re-release if you returned to the departure airport after becoming airborne. That was as of 2008, so just pre-SOC.

There is an exception to the DAL return to gate requirement. I would suggest a more thorough reading of the ENTIRE section.

Nu

 

You got that right. For starters, I just wish they could make TravelNet numbers more realistic. It's pretty difficult to use the non-rev privileges when it says 20+ seats two hours before departure, then it goes out full. Hard to plan...

 

I know there are a number of guys on here who own or owned light airplanes, and it's been a while since I've had anything to do with GA flying. What I've noticed it that the days of showing up at an FBO and renting a plane seem to be gone, replaced by clubs, fractional ownership, and outright ownership. How does one go about obtaining an aircraft that can be flown fairly economically about 100 hours per year, carry 4 + bags at least 300nm, and so on and so forth?

 

As someone else pointed out... Parts of the FOM basically mirror regulation. Others are company non-sense.

The ones which mirror regulation such as dispatching (or re dispatching) could result in an FAA fine or certificate action.

I can't believe professional Delta pilots are arguing over this. Wow.