Go Back  Airline Pilot Central Forums > Airline Pilot Forums > Major > Delta
Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta? >

Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?

Search

Notices

Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 01-08-2011 | 10:44 AM
  #56321  
Ferd149's Avatar
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 3,457
Likes: 0
From: LAX ERA
Default

Originally Posted by newKnow
Looks like a congresswoman was shot today. Fox News and MSNBC's website is reporting she has died. Unfreakingbelievable.
Yup.........mod Dem who just got reelected in a conservative Tuscon district.
Looks like the jackwagon also killed/wounded several of her local staffers.

I'm embarrassed to be from/live here somedays

PS just found this (to keep this "aviation" related)

Giffords is married to Capt Mark Kelly, a U.S. Navy pilot and NASA astronaut and is the only congresswoman with a military spouse on active duty.

Last edited by Ferd149; 01-08-2011 at 11:06 AM.
Old 01-08-2011 | 10:50 AM
  #56322  
Jabberwock's Avatar
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 126
Likes: 0
From: Boardroom Chair
Default

Yay!
DELTA on 29 JAN 11 operates last Atlanta – Manaus service. The Skyteam carrier currently operates 3 weekly flight with 737-700 aircraft.
Will an E170 make it there?
Originally Posted by Jabdip
Personally, I think we need to get out of the box on scope and go back to how all this started. We were told that RJs and regionals were good for us in that it opened up new markets and gave us flow, in turn creating the need for more mainline aircraft because of more feed.
We need to stop viewing codeshare and RJ's as anything different than what they are:

Delta code not being flown by Delta pilots

Of course a small jet feeds a larger jet in a hub, but there is no distinction between a DC9, an E175, or a 737. We woudl lose flow if we parked the 747's too. All these jets are integral parts of our network. The distinctions are meaningless and only butter our egos into believing we are only outsourcing flying we do not want to perform.

Well, my favorite airplane is the 757. Sorry for the rest of you, your jobs don't matter.
Old 01-08-2011 | 11:30 AM
  #56323  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 922
Likes: 0
From: Decoupled
Default Solve the Mystery

Can someone explain to me how to get to the Fly Confirmed For Less page at Travelnet? I can't find it.
Old 01-08-2011 | 11:32 AM
  #56324  
JABDIP's Avatar
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 295
Likes: 0
From: bartender
Default

Originally Posted by Jabberwock
Yay!
Will an E170 make it there?We need to stop viewing codeshare and RJ's as anything different than what they are:

Delta code not being flown by Delta pilots

Of course a small jet feeds a larger jet in a hub, but there is no distinction between a DC9, an E175, or a 737. We woudl lose flow if we parked the 747's too. All these jets are integral parts of our network. The distinctions are meaningless and only butter our egos into believing we are only outsourcing flying we do not want to perform.

Well, my favorite airplane is the 757. Sorry for the rest of you, your jobs don't matter.
You totally miss the point. We will never reverse and take back the DCI flying to the level of your statement above: all Delta code will be Delta pilots. My point of defining what cities by size could be flown by DCI carriers has nothing, I repeat nothing to do with the size of aircraft that goes there. Simpilly put, if a city is over a certain population out side a hub, a mainline jet(flown by DAL pilots) serves it wheather it is a RJ or a 747. If you want to fly a 20 seat Sabb to Podunkville, quit DAL and go to work for someone who flies those airplanes dude. My question to you is how has the current scope language prevented DCI from flying hub to hub, ie. DTW- ATL-DTW?????

Last edited by JABDIP; 01-08-2011 at 11:44 AM.
Old 01-08-2011 | 11:32 AM
  #56325  
shiznit's Avatar
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 2,642
Likes: 0
From: right for a long, long time
Default

Originally Posted by Jabberwock
Of course a small jet feeds a larger jet in a hub, but there is no distinction between a DC9, an E175, or a 737. We would lose flow if we parked the 747's too. All these jets are integral parts of our network. The distinctions are meaningless and only butter our egos into believing we are only outsourcing flying we do not want to perform.
This is one of the best posts I've seen in a long, long time.
Old 01-08-2011 | 11:46 AM
  #56326  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 5,113
Likes: 0
Default

Originally Posted by JABDIP
I have always said you are only as good as your weakest link(worst service as in DCI). Nothing would please me more than to have it all in house, but I think that is an unachievable goal.
It certainly is unachievable from the context of taking the flying back through force, at least if it's done in a unilateral way, since someone else is performing it, under agreement we can't simply repeal. I do think it could be achieved in the context of a win-win-win that would take the concept of a NSL to a logical conclusion, as I described in a previous post:

My concept of ALPA is that it would be an exclusive crew-leasing company, with one common exclusive contract with the carriers it now has multiple exclusive contracts with.

I would envison training to be administered by ALPA, and not by companies. We would own and operate one/several training facility(ies), the funding for which would come from the standard cost paid by the companies. The companies would only provide a few check airmen to ensure standards are met, and they would thus get out out of the pilot training business. This would shift liabilities away from companies in accidents involving pilot error (a big incentive), and the funding for proper insurance to protect ALPA also would be baked into the contract rates. All ALPA cockpits would be standardized, since there is no logical reason an A320 at United needs to be flown differently than an A320 at DAL. If you can say the right airline name on the PA, you've made the CEO happy, and the passengers comfortable. They don't care that you call your manuals FOM, POM, what color they are, whether you do or don't use memory items, and whether or not your heading bug is normally centered or not.

So if you could have, say a five year "company-lock" to develop some sort of brand identity, you would get one week of basic company indoc at the new airline, and off you go. If a company didn't like a pilot, for whatever reason, they could call ALPA, and ask for a replacement. That would help solve any fears over losing control of hiring. We could have internal procedures for dealing with such a person. Obviously, if multiple companies have a problem with an individual, that's a red flag. But again, since we would essentially be a big exclusive crew-leasing company, we would have procedures in place to police our own. It's no different than having a chief pilot.

The standards used by ALPA in training would be significantly higher. Since companies would not compete based on pilot costs, we could go back to having actual, you know... "training", with "instructors" etc. We would be the major partner is setting standards with the FAA, and we could thus ensure ALPA pilots are much, much better trained than anyone else out there. We could more effectively lobby for stricter and stricter standards, and make it more and more cost-prohibitive for non-ALPA companies that try to insource training to compete with our economies of scale.

It would be tough to become an ALPA pilot, and Pro-Strandards would play a bigger role in policing our own. Probation periods would be extended. But it would be far, far more stable and rewarding.

The main benefit of the scheme I propose is that would no longer be married to an airline. Alomst every concessionnary decision pilot groups have ever made are linked to the fear their company might not survive, which is a direct result of the current seniority system. If we had a NSL, we wouldn't have that problem. If a company gets close to dying, it's healthier for the industry that it dies, and it would beneficial to the pilots to turn in their wings for another set of wings, and go fly somewhere else in a healthy industry.

Another area that would yield great personal satisfaction is that we could almost eliminate commuting. If you live in Houston, it would be nice to fly for UCAL. The only reason you wouldn't under today's system is if you expected a better career somewhere else. With a common contract, there would be no incentive to go fly for anyone but UCAL. But still, if your wife got a new job in Atlanta, and Atlanta positions were available for bidding, and you were of your "company-lock"... off you go to DAL.

There are many economic benefits to such a scheme. One of the most obvious is that you can more easily agree on a "baseline" compensation package, and simply adjust for inflation. If pilots had simply been able to hang on to what we once had, with cost of living adjsutments, we would be doing back-flips every morning. The scheme I propose might take contract negotiations down to arguing over a paragraph here and there, and fighting like hell over a tenth of a percent in inflation figures. Add some profit-sharing to capture economic upside, and you could have a decent, predictable contract.

At the end of the day, we don't have the same amount of face-to-face interraction with the customer as F/A's. It's more important for other groups to be immersed in the culture. We provided a technical product that doesn't actually need to be differentiated across brands. A greaser is a greaser, a crash is a crash. A minimum amount of company-specific indoc is all we would need. That makes us almost like fuel. We could be a common, predictable expense across the industry. We could negotitae one contract, as one block, against the ATA as ablock. They would get predictable costs, a much more predictable labor environment, deferred/reduced liabilities. We would stop having to give a kidney every time the company we're married to has a hickup, and we wouldn't have to be burried with it if it died.
Old 01-08-2011 | 11:49 AM
  #56327  
dragon's Avatar
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,601
Likes: 0
From: Dismayed
Default

Originally Posted by orvil
Can someone explain to me how to get to the Fly Confirmed For Less page at Travelnet? I can't find it.
Top left under Leisure Travel, select "Fly Confirmed Discount Programs". Be sure to check the Delta.com price because I've actually found them cheaper there in the past.
Old 01-08-2011 | 11:50 AM
  #56328  
Elliot's Avatar
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,685
Likes: 0
From: "Prof" button manipulator
Default

Originally Posted by orvil
Can someone explain to me how to get to the Fly Confirmed For Less page at Travelnet? I can't find it.
TravelNet ---> Leisure Travel ---> Fly Confirmed Discount Programs ---> "Reserve My Flight"

GJ
Old 01-08-2011 | 11:54 AM
  #56329  
TenYearsGone's Avatar
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 2,039
Likes: 0
From: 7ERB
Default

Originally Posted by JABDIP
I have always said you are only as good as your weakest link(worst service as in DCI). Nothing would please me more than to have it all in house, but I think that is an unachievable goal.
It is achievable except our union does not place a high priority on it. If a proper study was spearheaded without bias, Im sure even the bean-counters would agree that outsourcing is a waste of energy and resources. Short term gains are what managers are looking at when they are outsourcing. In the long term, outsourcing is unproductive and expensive.

TYG
Old 01-08-2011 | 12:09 PM
  #56330  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 922
Likes: 0
From: Decoupled
Default

Originally Posted by dragon
Top left under Leisure Travel, select "Fly Confirmed Discount Programs". Be sure to check the Delta.com price because I've actually found them cheaper there in the past.
Thanks for the answer, but it doesn't work. When I look at Leisure Travel the drop down it only gives me Flight Availability & Listings, Employee Award Travel or Interline Travel. I haven't paid up my annual fee yet, could that keep the tab from appearing?

Thanks for the tip, I wouldn't be surprised if it costs less just buying one.
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
On Autopilot
Regional
22617
11-05-2021 07:03 AM
AeroCrewSolut
Delta
153
08-14-2018 12:18 PM
Bill Lumberg
Major
71
06-13-2012 08:36 AM
Quagmire
Major
253
04-16-2011 06:19 AM
JiffyLube
Major
12
03-07-2008 04:27 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



Your Privacy Choices