When they had the program that kept the crews with the airplane, it worked amazingly well. Almost zero drama.

Well, can't have that.

Yeah the temptation of paper gains with the optimizer is irresistable. Its similar to the disastrous planning logistics of the 365 bids that will always happen as long as we let it. Its like the frog getting mad at the scorpion when its just its nature; it truly can't help it. Saw a 1 day trip once for both pilots and FA's...they all flew to ATL, pilots did the panic track and field plane change (FA's kept the plane) the pilots did a MIA turn the FA's did a FLL turn, pilots do another tasmanian devil plane change, meet back up with FA's and fly home. That silliness aside, things are geared to bias FA's being on the plane to start boarding whereas the thought is pilots can nudge past 100 people in a jetway, hit the "fly button" and git-r-dunn. Sometimes one minute of "optimized" FA credit drives pilot pairings as well.

Even when they were supposedly attempting the "full kitting" (lolwut?) it never seemed to matter more than one or two flights through a hub a month.

I have no idea why they stick to that. Its bad for the pilots and bad for the company. Even the normal 210 day window is stupid. I really hate to bring up a NWA thing, but will anyway. Those bids ran like clockwork, worked well for both the company and the pilot group, and there was absolutely zero drama....no freaking out about what you were going to bid, no angst about when you would go to training, no panic bidding because the deadline was close, no obsession about when the next bid would be. Very, very predictable and made base changes easy. You bid and, poof, 4 months later you were IN your new seat, maybe less if there was no training involved. They also published more stats that were genuinely useful. A NWA guy from 2000 would view the silly "Ahhhhh! When is an AE is coming?!?/when's training?!?/where's the conversion list?!?/I'm FREAKING OUT!" threads we get here with total confusion and a lot of "WTF?".

Totally unnecessary, especially when there is already a blueprint for a better system. I'm sure Sailing will be along shortly to explain why his "friends" in Crew Resources don't like the idea. Maybe its too hard to figure out what the little old lady at NWA did with a shoe box of cards.

Rant over.

And this is where people give BS wayyyy too much credit. He could easily show his superiors (isn't he a director of some sort now anyways?) that there is a better way to do business. It can be cheaper, faster and more convenient to the company because it can absorb some of marketing's whiplash. Now, nothing can totally solve the obsession with marketing and network at this company, but at least crew resources can get in shape a little (pun intended) and adjust to be a little bit more nimble to keep up with all the asinine changes.

Reshaping how we do AEs is a huge priority for me as we reengage the company. Way too many pilots are getting hosed on how the company is training and unwinding the MOAD. Looks like NW had the better system. +1 Nu

Had a ATL 40 minute tail swap, T to B walk. Cool with me as long as the powers that be understand that the new Delta Difference is beating first class out the door leaving the APU on so I have time to drop a deuce down in A before the next flight. So much winning.

Why though? Just stand there and wave goodbye to everyone (as we’re supposed to), put the jet to bed (as required, as we’re supposed to), use the head, and stop for food (if needed). Then when you’re fit to safely operate another flight, head to the next aircraft.

I’m not going to compromise the safety of any of my flights because management is clueless.

This times 1000.

we aren’t supposed to say goodbye if time is critical for the next leg, and aren’t required to put the plane to bed on every leg.

They stick to that because as Bob has stated in recent comms, bigger, less frequent AE's results in fewer training events annually than smaller more frequent AEs. At this point, minimizing turnover is all they care about.