[quote=Chente;717226]
The junior pilot is not always in the lowest paid positions. In fact they are spread throughout the copilot seats even on the 7ER's flying international. The company has to staff the airline. In a airline with multiple types of aircraft a furlough becomes more difficult. If you simply furloughed the bottom 500 pilots as a example you would end up with several fleets of aircraft you could not man and would have massive cancelations. To furlough 500 pilots requires a series of training steps as you move pilots down to lower paid categories until you have the 500 surplus pilots all in the bottom categories and their replacements trained and through IOE. Then you can actually furlough.
The more categores a airline has the more difficult a furlough is for management and the more costly. Contrary to the forum talk the flow down to Compass presents no real issues to management other then it being another category. Compass is no different then when we had the 737 express operation. It simply adds another layover of training and moving pilots. Prior to the merger with NWA Delta management maintained the fleet simplification and getting down to 3 fleet types was critical to the survival of the airline. Then they decided on the merger and now having multiple fleets is a good thing giving us flexibility!!! Management changes positions faster then the wind shifts.

I'd say that's a pretty fair assessment of the AE system.

It might be nice to be able to do a same category base swap as a commuter (bid reserve and play golf in ATL in the summer, ski in SLC in the winter).

I've got a junior friend at NWA thought and he's been living the horror of the APA system. Been there less than two years and has gone DTWDC9, ANC742, MSP742, MSPDC9, DTWDC9. That's a lot of changing in a year and a half and throw a merger in on top of that. That's not to say that you can't have a lot of training events under the AE when things are going backwards. I bet there might be a couple folks that have gone ER, 73N, M88 in a year and a half.

The AE system would not slow a furlough compared to the monthly system. The company can post a AE every two weeks if they want. In fact in more normal times we saw a 4 major AE each year and normally one cleanup AE after each quarterly bid so there would be a total of 8 per year or near monthly. The AE's have stopped because of the merger and the desire of the company to minimize training. They know a lot of pilots are going to want to switch bases. The company actually tried to get the union to agree to joint system wide bids prior to SOC with conversions to happen only after SOC. This was turned down by the union and the company was forced to abide by the transition agreement. That is why there huge rush to get SOC done. They know they are going to be short pilots this summer and want to get as much training done this winter as possible and then get everyone out of the school house and flying the line in the summer. That is also why many of the planned changes will be put off until the fall.

I don't think you will see any practice bids. The company wants to get pilots into training as quick as possible. Contractually they have to post Feb training by 5 Jan. That means they have to close the bid and get the results out in time to plan the Feb training. The bid will have to close around the 28th at the latest. The company often changes there mind on basing decisions right up to the moment of posting a bid so a practice bid would not have much validity.
The Bid is expected to be Brutal for Atlanta because a lot of wide body flying will be leaving and none gained. More time is going to the former NWA bases then the former Delta bases. This is because of training constraints with the A330 category. (only 1 sim according to the NWA guys here).

Sailing,

Thanks. I did not realize the WB flying leaving Atlanta was not going to be backfilled. For those of us who are going to be displaced into commuting a practice ( or monthly award ) would be a whole lot better for planning. Even if the plans involve trying to get a leave to work somewhere else (locally).

As you point out Compass positions are no different than any other positions, "pilots in seats" to our management. I sure wish we had those bidding options and the protection of our MEC when we got there.

Have you ever commuted to reserve? Throw in a new kid and an active side business and it's just miserable. Here's to hoping that like most things in this business the bad news is exaggerated. (as opposed to sitting here at home on Long Call while the wifey plays our grand piano in between preparations for a feast which in all ways is a totally fantastic way to make a living ! )

Management had said the total number of pilot positions in ATL was going to grow (some time ago). So is this off due to the inability to train and backfill on f-NWA equipment? Does anyone know the total number of jobs leaving ATL?

For we junior guys, this GREAT job started to smell like low tide about the time when Jim Whitehurst left the building. The best news I ever heard is that this merger wasn't happening at the C44 meeting. Could I get a tape of that to play, just to make me feel better?

Take a little time off and things change. Last I heard there was not going to be a reduction of 777 positions in ATL. NYC 777 base moving to DTW with the 2 new LR's(coming in March) available to fly the 2 new routes out of DTW starting in June. This was pretty solid info but things change fast.

Ahh, the things I'm thankful for this year... Thx Buck!

Ya'll... no.. all ya'll (proper plural of "ya'll") can argue the merits/detriments of the two systems till the cows come home. The problem that you describe has nothing to do with either system. "It's the economy stupid".. to plagarize the phrase. When the cycle starts up again, it won't matter all that much which system we are using, because hopefully we will once again be seeing upward movement, not backsliding. *sigh* Happy Turkey Day again.. all ya'll.

Based on what intel? According to DALPA, there is (initially) only going to be the SLC/MSP swap.. and maybe DTW 777 cat opening. other than that, they are not expecting anything significant. Or are you talking long term?

Smoke and mirrors....
 

Slow,
I will chalk the lack of response to the fact this board moves fast and it is a holiday season, but it sure looks like you (typical MEC fashion) are ignoring a question you don't want to have to answer.....ignore long enough and they (us pesky little pilots) will forget.
Once again I will pose my question:
How did DALPA get the RJ's parked? Please reread my previous post and give me a valid answer, not smoke and mirrors.