What I am worried about is ASA, RAH or SKW join SKY-TEAM as their own carrier, not a feeder. ((Ie. RAH has a lot of those EMB190s and Airbus aircraft. Their pilots get paid less then Delta, their cost structure might be lower. RAH does DOMESTIC US FLYING under the SKYTEAM banner. Delta pulls way-back (trims down and concentrates on profitable INTL) on DOMESTIC SKY-TEAM flying and voila, RAH Is US DOMESTIC and DELTA is INTERNATIONAL, thus less DELTA jobs)) Just look at Delta's or NWA's west coast presence---->It is Alaska Airlines.

BTW, pilots are nothing but a small piece to this alliance. This Alliance set-up is good for business. I dont agree with it because, in essence, you lose quality DELTA jobs (the TOP 5000 pilots would be OK, though).

Respectfully and IMHO,

TYG

I believe what ACL and sailing are saying is that this is currently NOT allowed under the Skyteam structure.

Oh. Ok, sorry, my bad............

phewwwwww, now I can sleep a little better:)

TYG

TYG;

What have you been doing for the last ten years?

No prob...I understand your concern. :)

Management can be sneaky!:mad:

What's the problem with the NYC 7ER now, you ask, j29?

It's been a great category, because very strong positives used to outweigh very strong negatives for most people. On the minus side, the heinous three airport problem was offset by the fact almost every trip orignated and ended in JFK. The quality and variety of trips, and the relative advantage in seniority (vs. ATL) made all the idiosincracies (a euphemism) of New York. Things like not being able to get there from here, not being able to park a car, and sleeping in closets. Dirty closets. That you have to share.

Now, the trip quality is going down, larger airplanes are taking the good flying. But their pilots followed (who could blame them?), and so you lose both the trip variety/quality at the top end AND the seniority advantage. Not to mention you're competing both with the ATL 765 guys AND the ATL 7ER guys that got displaced by the 765 guys that wanted to stay. And the ATL 7ER guys that are gagging on the same type of domestic flying dumped in their category by the slow closing of the ATL 767 categories.

And we haven't even started putting really senior airplanes in there, like the A330. Not to mention we haven't seen a lot of cross-polination yet with the merger.

Then you have the problem of having airframes potentially going to SEA. The cynical explanation is that this will come at the expense of CVG, but CVG pilots are people too, and they're (I'm guessing) going to want to keep their, you know, jobs. So maybe the poor saps in DTW take it on the chin. Except that they too (amazingly) will want to displace somewhere, and maybe New York will work.

So overall, I think it's not an exageration to say that the category peaked last summer. It's not even a bitter realization: I knew this was coming when we started talking about the merger. It's part of a process that will make it worse for a few years, with hopefully (fingers crossed and *********s puckered up), a better life for everyone thereafter.

Side Question:

Does anyone know when the Northwest Airlines Retirement Savings Plan at ING will transfer into our Delta Fidelity accounts?

I was under the impression that those were supposed to transfer automatically last fall.

On the subject of Q1 results. I'm sure Alfa or Slowplay might cast this in its' proper light, with the right names for the right metrics...

I tried to evaluate the size of the losses at DAL vs. those at CAL and AMR, in relation to their size. I used revenue as a measure of size. The terms used to describe the revenue was slightly different in each case, but I think I got total operating revenue for each, and losses excluding special items for each.

AMR: 505 million loss on 5,100 million in revenue = .099
CAL: 146 million loss on 3,200 million in revenue = .046
DAL: 256 million loss on 6,850 million in revenue = .037

The trend for DAL was for a narrower loss vs. the year prior, and wider for the other two.

It seems to me we're starting to get traction. I would not be surprised if CAL/UAL will want to "go there" as well. I think their combination would potentially lead the industry, along with STAR, and would potentially command a revenue premium vs. DAL, based on what I perceive as a better network. OTOH, I think DAL potentially will retain an operating cost advantage, and so margins could be good for both. I think we got a good running start, and I think the obsession with balance sheet repair is the key to staying ahead of CAL/UAL. I think this is a race to better debt service payments, which will in turn allow for further investment in the product. It'll be interesting (along the lines of the Chinese curse) to watch.

So I'm not fearful of further consolidation.

I'm not interested in a political discussion... but from an airline standpoint, I did notice Obama's speech in New York included a blurb on oil speculation, with markets designed to let airlines lock in a price on oil being driven by speculation, from dark, hidden recesses in the financial world. Or something like that.

Maybe oil speculation regulations might get traction as well?

Ten Years Gone---> One of my favorite Led Zepp. songs.:cool:

I havent been out quite as long as ten years but I am fortunate enough to be a stay at home Daddy.:)

Hopefully, I will get this "call" soon before I really have to be called TEN or ELEVEN Years Gone.

TYG