Not on the national forum, and there's nothing like waiting to the very last minute! Good thing they delayed the close for 24 hours.

I know, but hey this is the only time I have had all weekend to do it. I figured that since I had the extra time, I would use it!

Hi,
I think this is the article. I read it again and it looks like planebusiness style writing and not the dude who posted it. Anyway, if its our guy reporting I'm sorry for posting something bogas. He did say when pressed that "it" (some? all?) was from planebusiness.

Ferd

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While the Feds continue to take their own sweet time mulling over the
proposed Delta Air Lines/Northwest Airlines merger, we found out this week
that there seems to be a bit of a major IT problem with the deal. It sounds
like the original plan that had been announced earlier this year, which
would have seen the combined entity using most of the IT infrastructure and
software systems from Northwest, is now -- up for grabs.

You may remember that when an independent third party was asked to evaluate
the merits of each airline's systems, the Northwest systems were found to be
the more sophisticated and "appropriate' for the merged entity. The decision
was made to go with the Northwest PARS system, not the Deltamatic platform.

But this week we hear that the decision has been made to go back to
Deltamatic -- not to the Northwest PARS system. This decision has huge
implications as it could mean that a number of other systems, including
revenue management, would now have to revert back to the existing Delta
platforms. Platforms that are, even in the estimation of some Delta IT folks
we have talked to, inferior to the Northwest systems.

We've heard a lot of conflicting information in regard to this situation
over the last several days. Is this being done so that people at Delta don't
lose their jobs? What can possibly be the rationale for this move? Then
there are the folks at Northwest who had assumed their jobs were secure --
as they were going to be running the selected systems when the two companies
merged.

We live in interesting times.
I can tel you that Deltamatic and Cornerstone do need a revamp. Not a bad system, but my god is it old school.

Somehow, I don't think this is anything more than a speed bump on the way to DCC. It does have the potential to saddle us with an inferior IT system though. Nothing that a few million dollars down the road they can fix later. Nimrods.

Quite true.
I find it funny. The IT guys down here were telling me that all the NWA software was going in to the Kiosks a few months ago. What are we going to do now, take it back out?

Is the NWA IT technology developed internally by NWA or was it contracted out? If contracted, this could be part of a plan to get a better deal by the vendor. Similar to RA telling Boeing, "you know, with all these 787 delays, the A350 is looking pretty attractive right now. So.........what can you do for us on these 787 delays? More 777s. 717s as compensation?". Personally I think they will put the squeeze on whoever and whenever they can. Its business.

But I agree, I have heard where many of the NWA IT products were better than ours. The merger should take the "best practices" from both companies to make us better.

Agreed. It will lead to better security and job opportunities for us for many years ahead.

This was in Fridays Trim Tab, not really anything to new, I feel better about the SILs...


Why So Many SILs?
We have been receiving questions lately about why we are offering so many SILs. As most of you know, SILs are Special Incentive Lines which were created a number of years ago with the signing of LOA #2. The purpose is to provide a mechanism to address temporary staffing surpluses in categories that are designated by the company as an “excess
category”.

Getting back to the central question of why we are seeing more SILs now, first, while we normally see a block hour reduction in the fall, the reduction this year has been greater than in past years due to the extraordinary run-up in fuel prices we experienced this spring and summer. Many flights were identified as uneconomical at the elevated fuel prices when the fall and winter schedules were put together. Secondly, we are seeing a continuation from last winter of an historically high number of aircraft mod lines. M88s are being pulled for WiFi installation, we are continuing the installation of winglets on the 737-800s, the remaining seven 767-400s will be converted to the international configuration, 15 additional 757s will receive winglets and SATCOM, and we will begin the installation of winglets and interior refurbishment of the 767ER aircraft. Fewer aircraft available to fly obviously means fewer block hours flown.

As previously stated, SILs are intended to address temporary surpluses and do not mean that displacements or, for that matter, furloughs are imminent. In fact, even though next summer’s schedule is still a work in progress, there is a high probability that we will need additional pilots in 2009.

The bottom line is SILs are a tool that can be used to mitigate temporary staffing excesses, but they do not provide any meaningful insight into long term staffing requirements. It is a strictly voluntary program that provides benefits to both the company and the pilot group. If you have any additional questions about SILs, please stop by and ask your Chief Pilot.

Yes and they should occur through March of next year. FWIW