What does this mean? You live near the beach? He doesn't 'cause he lives in Atlanta?

 

Both the junior f-DAL and f-NWA pilots blame each other for their QOL decline, but the merger is only part of the story.

A more reasonable approach is to look at the DOT data that shows how both NWA and DAL have been shrinking, both during good times and bad. I posted the numbers a few months ago (don't have them in front of me right now) but the bankruptcies saw years where our airlines emerged more than 15% smaller than they were the year prior.

Probably a better focus is to understand why we are shrinking and what we've done to contribute to our own decline. The most obvious answer is looking at the block hours we sent out the door to regional and code share carriers. This is somewhat within our control, via the people we elect to represent us and how we direct them.

We also have a Company that is making all the right noises about growth. The way I see it the new health care bill will level the playing field and increase costs at some of Delta's competitors who fail to provide for their employees as well as Delta does.

I'm quite optimistic the QOL for both f-DAL and F-NWA guys will improve going forward, if the economy holds and if we focus on delivering the best possible product to our Customers (even if we're feeling a little disgruntled).

FWIW - I was a 767 line holder the month the decision came down. By summer, I'll be a MD88 reserve barely holding my home town. Thus far, none of that decline has been a result of f-NWA guys. It has been a result of the Company parking a lot of 767 capacity. I'm nearly to the point of admitting the merger saved me a furlough (not quite yet) but I'll enjoy eating crow next spring.

 

[quote=volav8r1;781948]Do those "hired not aquired" stickers actually exist? I've heard about them but can't believe a mature adult would actually put one on their flight case. If true, it would be a real shame![/quote

I've never seen or heard of one that applies to NWA/DL and don't believe they exist. AA/TWA maybe. Here, no way.

 

Well, it would be funny to see that sticker, particularly if acquired is misspelled.

 

I really agree with what you say - and it's not just Delta that has been losing block hours.

I have some American guys in my crashpad and they are moving downhill as well. They parked a whole fleet over there (A300s). One of them just finished his second airplane class in a year, after being displaced twice. The other guy was displaced from JFK to MIA, then onto another airplane.

I wish we had more flying, but I'm confident that the Network people have us really positioned to grow, when the passengers come back. If anyone lists to the investor calls (especially the one in December), you'd see that there was a serious drop in yield in 2009 - which is why the company parked airplane and reduced utilization. Now, the yields are back to 2008 levels, I think the company is looking for signs of growth.

 

Bar,
I think you are spot on with this. In ten years, I've had one domicile close on me, been furloughed, moved backward on two different planes, and now have been displaced out of my current base. Could I have bid down to prevent some of this. Sure, but I would also have to fly more to equal the pay cut from ER to -88 so QOL still takes a hit. There are many factors that have led to this, but the fNWA guys are not responsible.

I do feel that without this merger, both carriers would have been furloughing again, so we got that going for us. I do also feel that we are all in a good place going forward. While there are certain things that we all have issues with, in the end, those can be fixed over time. The problem is, we want our individual issues fixed now!

There is a lot of noise being spouted on this, and other forums. What we have to remember is that we have only each other to rely on. Sure there are some jackalope DBs on each side, who will try to gum up the works, but I an confident that come 2012, we will have worked out our differences. If nothing else, we need to remember that management is the enemy!

 

I'll start by saying that I'm over the whole SLI discussion, but I thought this was kind of interesting/funny. I was having some dinner with a couple of guys from my re-qual class at the doubletree last month. Since we are airline pilots, of course hire dates came up in the conversation. At one point one of the guys made a comment about me being senior to him. I explained that no, he was actually senior to me ( me fNWA, hired in late 99, him fDAL early in 01). He acted like I was out of my mind. I explained to him what had happened in the SLI and he was incredulous. I think his quote was "that ain't right." I had to just shake my head and change the subject at that point.

 

I find it hard to believe that he didn't know this if he was a fDAL pilot. Everyone knows where they are. More than likely, he was playing dumb so as not to step on toes. I was hired 01/01 and am slotted in with the fNWA late '99 hires. I am also very cognizant of the fact that there could be hard feelings about it so SLI discussions are now on my verboten list along with politics and religion.

 

That's right. Super wasn't hired by Delta. He was hired by Northwest who hired on qualifications rather than who he knew. I can't wait to see how you guys treat the Compass pilots that flow up without a degree. When Super started at Northwest, he more than exceeded the competitive minimum requirements at Delta. We are learning really quick that the Northwest contract was pretty equal to the Delta contract overall. Those hourly rates are deceiving.

On another note, I have had mostly positive experiences interacting with Delta crews. The only negative experience I had was when a Delta first officer asked me where all my flight attendants were. I proceeded to tell him that a DC-9-30 only had 2 flights attendants since it only had 100 seats. He said we looked like a DCI crew. I did not take it well and drilled him on scope.

 

This is a graph of RJ growth over the last 10 years also.