I love your fire man. It's great to see a super-premium WB guy getting so intense about scope. If we could just get the other 12,000 guys between you and me to get it, then the scope recapture/tightening might actually occur.

Unfortunately there are many guys out there who only look to the payrates.

My hope is that there will be a lot of noise from everyone regarding scope, Scope, and more SCOPE when the polling begins for the new contract. We all want payrates and QOL, but we need to shore up the foundations of the contract as well. We need to be loud and unified in what we want. It needs to be so obvious that this is the will of the pilot group that it cannot be dismissed as the the complaining of the "vocal minority."

 

Agreed.

Carl

 

I know you guys love arguing about Scope and I'm reading it all and trying to drink the right koolaid--"SCOPE!"-- but I have some questions on stuff that's changes in the last 6 years or so since last I compu-tapped Delta, if anyone can help

Having some trouble figuring out all the websites as I gear up to come back from the mil. Can you guys back me up and tell me if these are the right/best places to go for info & doing our business?

Here, and this one single thread on Delta: main online source for up-to-date rumors and what's-up with Delta from the pilot's perspective. Really? Just this one thread in the world?

DeltaNet-- I see this as the main delta page, I go to Flight Operations, and most things I'm looking for are on Scheduling. I'm finding the AE posts/Awards, and the bid packages and awards there.

I-Crew-- I get there from DeltaNet Scheduling page. From here I can see a bunch of stuff, including a page for E-Crew for swap board.

E-Crew--No idea what this is, don't know if I need to use it. It seems like I crew is a replacement?

VPN--I used to use some VPN or other, special software I had to download to access all the delta stuff including DBMS, back in 2001-2004 when I cared and last accessed all this stuff... I THINK it's all gone now?

DBMS--Used to be the main site/database of all my info I seem to recall... not sure where that lives now or how to access it, I seem to recall it had health and benefits there?

ALPA--- *** damn it's hard to navigate that site! I only care about the Delta Alpa site, but it seems I have to do this to get there:
1. log into alpa.org . From there I go to
2. crewroom.alpa.org ... WHAT is this place? It looks like it has stuff but it's mostly outdated?
3. Finally by clicking on a link at top, I seem to reach dal.alpa.org, which looks to me to be "the Delta Alpa site". From the scheduling page I found "PBS Gouge" and "When Scheduling Calls", but all the AE posts and category lists there are from 2008, not up to date, and I can get the latest stuff from DeltaNet right? What does the Dal.Alpa site give me, pay charts?

Bidding software... I THINK it's PBS, at least I hope so because I watched like hours of video on how the system works and read some presentations that were pretty good.

.. but what is PCS? Pilot Change System, but what is it?

and, after reading Allllll that info, and the PBS guide, AND googling it, I can't for the life of me fine anything that explains what a "green slip" or "yellow slip" or "white slip" is... WHERE is the book that explains our scheduling system?

Thanks!

 

I think ALPA should run an update article. In that article, should be an update of "where we are today", with pictures of the aircraft they are currently flying, placed next to pictures from the previous ALPA article.

In all fairness to ALPA, "What were they thinking"?

 

RoadKill, Go to the DALPA web site, click on the Library, then Merger, then TWG notepad. The Transition Working Group put together some really good plain english docs that address all your questions.

 

Here is a quick idea of what you need to know. Ecrew and Icrew are almost the same. Icrew was designed to load and access quickly from home computers. Ecrew is the system you will be on from a Delta computer in the crew lounge. There is one major difference between the two. You need to be on ICREW to rebook DH deviation flights. You can access ICREW from a lounge computer like you would from home but ECREW is what pops up when you sign in.
The VRU is dead. Forget about it.
You can get direct to the Dalpa sight and bypass national. Here is the link.
Public
If you have contract or scheduling questions the forum there is the place to go. Answers given here are often incorrect and there is no QA. A scheduling expert will answer there and they are QA'd.

You will want a desktop bidding software program for PBS. I used Easybid or you can use the software from Navtec. Download one or the other on your laptop. I prefer Easybid because along with the bidding software he has a direct access to DBMS without going though Icrew from home. Its a different presentation but very fast. I can log on and check open time and then log off in less then 30 seconds. I think I pay 6.95 a month for unlimited access. Worth every penny when you want to check a trip real fast with Delta calling.
It sounds like you know your way around Delta net so nothing to tell you there.
PCS is how you try and drop, swap and pickup trips once you have your schedule. You can reach it from Icrew, Ecrew or the easybid access to DBMS. Some of the interfaces in PCS are not intuitive to say the least. You need to get someone to sit down with you at a computer to show you the ropes.

 

It was apparently put out at the leadership meetings in ATL that we are buying more MD-90s, parking ALL of the DC-9s and growing 3-5% this year! The 90s will offset the 9s along with an aircraft acquisition. Not sure if the acquisition is in addition to the 90s or just the 90s.

With 3-5% growth (last year was 3.8%) we will need to hire. Just my 2 cents YMMV.

 

So what you are saying is that we are buying the Saudia 90's?

 

Sadly, yes, for the most part. the DALPA site woulds well too. Try; http://dal.alpa.org

E Crew allows you to sign in at report time for your trip, but is basically the same thing as I-Crew. Use I crew at home since it is a web page and not a web application. In reference to your below question about the VPN, that was used in conjunction with I-Crew and older software. You do not need to use the VPN anymore for any Flight Operations functions.

See above

DBMS is the backbone of the scheduling system. Your portal for that is I and E-Crew.
Health Care etc is found at ESs/ Employee Self Serve.
It is a drop down on the Flight Operations Home Page. Fourth or Fifth one to the right.

dal.alpa.org is your main portal for the MEC.
From this site you can get to your LEC page, ALPA National Main Page, My Page, Library, and access to all of the committees and support functions for the line pilot. If you need something specific, post and someone will surely answer.

[quote]
Bidding software... I THINK it's PBS, at least I hope so because I watched like hours of video on how the system works and read some presentations that were pretty good.

.. but what is PCS? Pilot Change System, but what is it?[/quote
PCS is Pilot Change Schedule. It is the partition of DBMS/I-Crew that allows you to pick up trips, put in green slips, white slips, yellow slips, move off days, etc.
PBS is Preferential Bidding, it is the way we do schedules now. No longer do we bid lines of time (LOT) We bid parameters and the computer awards and assigns you rotations based upon your seniority and preferences. Easy Bid and Navtech's Desktop applications are good way to do this bidding.

It is all explained in the PWA-Contract-Pilot Working Agreement. Go to the ALPA site, then go to the library, and then download "When Scheduling Calls" It explains a lot of this.
There is/are also some notepads that were penned at the time of the merger that explain each section of the contract. I can get you to them if you cannot find them.

If you need help with PBS call our PBS help line. Times are posted on the Crew Resources and Scheduling page.

-WS- is a straight pay pickup. Allowable to ALV+15

-GS- is a double pay trip that you submit a slip to pick up.
For a Reserve pilot---Single pay no credit towards monthly credit but you get the pay above guarantee and reserve days off back.

YS- are generally done by reserve pilots. It can be done by selecting off day fly or by reducing your RAW score by 15 pilots. These trips are added to your monthly credit. You do not get days off back for YS trips.

Keep asking questions. The answers will be here or on the ALPA forum. Welcome back.

 

The best way to divert the attention of the stupid masses is to come up with a new boogie man.

Carl is right. Cabotage and access to foriegn markets is completely out of our control. When the palms get greased a sufficient amount, it will happen no matter WHAT our pitiful little protests do.

To think that we have ANY sort of leverage in DC is pure folly. At best we're a cute little dog on a leash. Maybe if don't act up, we can ride in the purse.

Look at age 65

Look at cargo cabotage in ANC

When the big money wants it to happen, it will happen.

The best thing to do is to focus our energy on what we CAN control.

Nu