?? They added 8 LAX ER captains. Your category actually grew. How is that not a good thing? I am guessing that you are junior to those 8 guys that bid the vacancies. Still seems like a positive bid especially for the west coast guys.

How does the company determine which categories and how many of each to offer to new hires? Just wondering if there is a method to the madness and if LAX717B or LAX7ERB might be a choices for the next new hire classes.

Thanks

I think they forgot about the 320 and 777 on this bid. :) Nice to see all the continued movement!


And newK- Very well said!

The ATL 777 openings were dependent on pilots bidding off DTW 777. Apparently there were DTW 777FOs who bid away, but no Capts.

The Airline (or Air Line) did not need more 777 pilots. They just needed to move the positions to ATL.

It is not surprising no 777As moved out of DTW. They get paid to DH on the front and back end of their trips, there is no higher paying equipment to go to and there may actually an advantage for them to wait and be displaced...to LAX in the fall.

Completely off topic
 

Have any of you ever done LASIK or PRK? If so, PM me with your thoughts..

I agree with you. Not a lot of upward movement for wide body captain positions. These are the best of times and Delta has the smallest fleet of wide body aircraft.

Your of course right... it's wonderful when one's category grows above one! Yay! Maybe my position will stabilize after 30yrs... :rolleyes:

For JDMJ, very happy guy overall... completely understand the big picture of life... however, moving backwards after 26yrs does qualify for a momentary beyotch/vent, thanks. :)

Again, happy for all the young guys forward movement... timing is everything! :D

Thanks Roadie,

My point exactly. For our generation, Delta has mostly become the narrow body airline of choice. :)

For some reason, American/United have managed to be true wide body airlines, while us... not so much. :(

It's been that way since I was hired a long time ago. Overall however our average aircraft size was the same or larger because we were very heavy in the middle and still are. The merger shrunk our average fleet size and the 717 is having the same effect however I like seeing the flying at the mainline.

Don't disagree with anything your saying... but obviously, the view is much better from triple digits... glad it's been a good ride for you. Again, timing is everything. :)

The current trend is to send all new hires to NYC and then let them scatter to the wind on the next AE (coming out every 2 months or so).

Who knows what they will do going forward though. They might target specific categories for the summer, or keep sending folks to NYC. Anyone's guess.

I think they filled all the LAX717 spots published, not sure about the ER.

Hey you senior 717 pilots (As and Bs), you bid it for the summer off, you were supposed to bid off "first chance you get." Remember the deal?

http://images4.fanpop.com/image/phot...48-500-296.jpg


:D

These are not the best of times yet. Delta has no growth and minimal attrition off the widebody Capt positions. Narrowbodies have incredible growth. In a couple years when the 350s and 330s arrive simultaneously with high retirement attrition, the best of times will have arrived. I think we'll see NYC717 or 88A drop to the 3 year mark.

AA and UAL may have more widebodies but neither are hiring 1000+.

But on the bright side the short sleeve norm does make picking out the "interesting" characters a bit easier. :D

Here, Here! ^^^^^^ would have looked good back in the 7ER if you ask me.

I think only the most senior guys had an expired freeze on this bid.

Not to mention there is still lots of training in progress so lots of purchased trips.

Actually, Delta is on par with UAL and AAL when it comes to widebodies. It is just that the 767 (non -400) pay 757 pay.

I have suggested to our leaders that we fix that in C2015 and pay the 767 the same as the 330/787.

Doesn't affect me as I'm not going to fly the 767. Just a suggestion.

I also believe the 737-900er and A 321 should pay ER pay in C2015.

Interesting observation. Not that long ago there was a lot of squawking about RJ's and how our #1 priority should be to capture that flying.

The emphasis of the airline seems to be to grow in the market that is the most profitable - domestic. The RJ fleet is shrinking.

Is capturing RJ flying still relevant?

Unless we find something else to complain about. Carpe diem.

Yep!

Trust me, if I stood at the door with no shirt the plane would empty out faster than a Home Depot parking lot at the mention of La Migra :rolleyes:

Just ordered one for myself and my "mini NERD". Probably won't wear it to workout, but will when I hoist a pint!

Just a random observation, but aren't guys running out of ways to identify themselves as former f16 guys. How many different ways can you spell viper, falcon, lawn dart and f16?

According to the airline profiles here on APC we're not on par with UAL (I didn't even bother looking at AA, but my guess is we're just as far behind them in wide bodies as UAL).

UAL - Total 777: 129
DL - Total 777: 18

UAL - Total 767: 51
DL - Total 767: 95

UAL - Total 747: 23
DL - Total 747: 16

UAL - Total 787: 11
DL - Total 787: 0

UAL - Total 330: 0
DL - Total 330: 32

UAL - Total: 214
DL - Total: 161

UAL has a 32% more wide bodies than we do, and about the same number of pilots. How is this on par? What am I missing?

From the United Airlines Fleet Plan:

Fleet Plan
As of January 22, 2015, the Company’s fleet plan was as follows:
YE 2014 YE 2015 FY ∆
B747-400 23 21 (2)
B777-200 74 74 -
B787-8/9 14 25 11
B767-300/400 51 51 -

Total of 162

I don't see 129 777s and according to the Delta webpage, we have 158.

I don't care about how many we have, I care about how many pilots are paid at those higher rates, that is what is important. With that data it does look like there are more high paying jobs at United than there are at Delta, but I don't know how they man their fleets.

Oh and I went and did due diligence on AA fleet as well. According to their plan they will have
330 - 24
762 - 0
763 - 49
772 - 47
773 - 18
787 - 12
by the end of 2015 and that adds up to 150. Again though they have a lot more 777s than we do.

I'm guessing augmented domestic operations are coming soon to a category near you. Not sure if that is good or bad?

Two transcon legs now need 2 captains and 2 FOs. If augmented, some will need one CA and 2 FOs.

I can't imagine the company would do it unless it saved them money and required fewer pilots.

And AA and UAL pay all these aircraft 777 hourly rates. All we need to do is bring the 767 up to 777 rates as well. It's a no brainer given our profits.

It should be a priority ...

Purple,

If you fly Lax-JfK-Lax now, there are approximately 11 Capt hours and 11 FO hours. If you fly it augmented, there are still 11 Capt hours, but now 22 FO hours. The company would save 2 hotel rooms and some per diem, but hardly an even tradeoff financially. What am I missing here?

Omar

Maybe if the additional pilot is a new hire it's cheaper. Otherwise I don't see it either. I could see a few of these extra seats going out on green slips. Then it's more expensive to augment a transcon big time.

IDK. But they just sent out an email showing an example with breaks?

Sooooooo, I just want to make sure................This means you are FOR increased pay banding?

I could probably be convinced of increased pay banding but be careful what you wish for.....When the 757/767's were pay banded, the 757 was brought up to the then current 767er rate. Now everyone seems to think it was the other way around.

On a side note, I'm definitely against increased freezes.

Denny

And we all know how much better it is for two pilots to sit in middle seats in coach for 4+ hours, versus the pilots splitting a dedicated international-spec business class seat.

Amazingly we have pilots clamoring for the first and decrying the second.

But that is pay banding... I thought you were against pay banding?

This is more shades of what you brought to the DALPA forum. To repeat (again)--in C2K we brought the 757 up to the 767 pay, which had been significantly higher.

The 767-400 pays even more because it was (and still is) a separate category for pay and training purposes.

The real problem was that all the pre-and post BK agreements that eviscerated our pay so much that guys like you never knew or realized that we had actually brought the 757 pay up the way we did.

What do you mean?

365 is typical boilerplate AE language. If you are waiting on an AE with a strict, immediate conversion window that guarantees you will be trained before any other possible AE ever, you'll be in your current category until you retire or they close it.

Hey quick question....are green slips always given out in seniority order?
Basically a senior guy who has already flown one or two green slips would still be ahead of guys junior to him who haven't flown any green slips in a bid period.

No. The pilot with least amount of GSs has priority