that sucks.

I've got one that'll make you laugh, my buddy was sitting SC, while checking the computer he finds they've given him a trip that shows in an hour. He is ****ed but grabs and stuff and heads to the airport. Gets there and he's now at show time and no call. He didn't want to sign on to the computer because he wanted to talk to someone and find out whats the deal, why are you not giving me 2 hours heads up?!?

Finally he calls. Turns out he's a day early. The trip was for tomorrow.

I've come real close to pulling that one because on SC, especially living as far away as I do, you're ready to roll when you see that yellow notepad looking box.

I think that I would be in real trouble with the reserve system. Reading all the post on here about SC/LC yellow slip , moving days and when to check the computer I am sure I would muck it up. I hope I don't have to figure it out anytime soon. I am suprised that I haven't screwed up my bid bad enough to get reserve, knock on wood.

How come I cant move Money Market Fund money to an S&P 500 fund? It list this exchange as "Your plan does not allow exchanges into S&P500 Index."

I'm not finding this Fidelity account easy to work with.

Help?

I still have not received a packet for moving to Fidelity...

Is that delayed by 30 days for fNW or just the actual move?

True, but the company can also directly furlough pilots without the shuffling around.

Can't play defense ALL the time.

In stagant times, with maybe 2 bids a year, you can have people languishing in positions that have an untennable QoL because they got stuck in a bad spot when the music stopped.

Even people who just want to change bases are blocked for months on end.

Having experienced both systems, I AM warming up to the way DAL does some things, but I don't see much that recommends the AE thing over the APA system.

1) No more random guesswork and fretting when the next bid will be. No built up angst.

2) The APA system allows you to see which way the wind is blowing before jumping in. You see a lot of people on the web board clamoring for "practice bids". With the APA system, there is no need.

3) People don't have a meltdown worrying about their bids. Miss one? No problemo, there will be one next month. No need to re-arrange your whole life to grab a once a year bid.

4) People who just want to swap bases can do so without waiting forever.

5) People who get stuck in a bad spot can bid out sooner, rather than dealing with a BAD commute or reserve for months on end. This is especially important now that lineholding is no longer guarenteed.

6) No more guess work when you will be "converted". The APA system worked 4 months out. You knew exactly when you would be in the seat. As opposed to up to a year under the AE system.

7) Along with 6, you can plan your training. Don't want to train in the summer? Pull your bid until Fall.

8) When you got an award under the APA system, you "owned" it. The only way you wouldn't get it is if they displaced you. Bids could't just be "cancelled".

So far, the only minus we've heard is that the AE system provides maybe (just maybe) a speedbump to furlough.

As I said, you can't play defense all the time.

Nu

We shut the APU off if the external air and power is plugged in. We don't asphyxiate our pax to save 400 lbs/hr. What does a 88 burn at idle power? SE taxi is probably a far bigger $ saver. That said 4K fuel is BS. If I landed a DC9 at less than 5K I started sucking up the seat cushion. In the real world it's 100lbs/minute in the pattern and down low and you'd better make your decisions accordingly. One go around and a lap around the patch and you are now talking 3K on landing. YGTBSM. Murphy says the chance of going around increases inversely proportional to the prevailing visibility.

Experience says you square that result by the proximity to KEWR in NM.

In other news, Delta up almost 6% at the open. Guess everyone figured out that traders fat fingering sell orders on P&G, or Greece debt contagion fears, really don't affect DAL's fundamentals.

Looks like the NMB finally made the rule change. Know a person who no longer votes no longer counts as a no vote.

From the WSJ 20 min ago:

The National Mediation Board overhauled a decades-old election rule to make it easier for airline and railway employees to unionize, in a sign that labor is getting a more favorable hearing at the federal agency under the Obama administration.

The rule change, which was published online Monday in the Federal Register, has been opposed by the airline and rail industries and could still face legal challenges. More than 570,000 workers are employed by railroads and airlines, more than two-thirds of whom already are unionized.

The overhaul would affect tens of thousands of workers at Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's largest airline, who are gearing up for unionization votes. Some smaller airlines with little or no unionization, including JetBlue Airways Corp., also could see organized labor get a larger foothold. Railways are more unionized, and would be less affected.

Under an interpretation of the Railway Labor Act dating to 1934, aviation and rail workers who don't vote on whether to form a union have been counted as "no'' votes. That means a union could not be approved without a full majority of employees voting yes.

Under the National Labor Relations Act governing other industries, a union can be created if a majority of all votes cast are in favor of collective bargaining. In such elections, nonvotes don't count.

The rule change by the NMB mandates that unionization votes for air and rail workers be tallied in the same manner as in other industries.
It comes after a White House appointment shifted the balance of the government agency's three-person board. Linda Puchala, a former flight attendant union leader, replaced Read Van de Water, a former Northwest Airlines lobbyist, last year. She joined Harry Hoglander, a former pilot union leader appointed in 2002.

The NMB regulates labor relations in aviation and rail.

Great first start. Now if we can get some targeted changes to the RLA, prior to 2012 of course, then that would be fantastic.