Another area we can agree on, and ironically another area where Carl and Slow disagree: the RJ pilots are not to blame for the existence of their segment of the industry, or the conditions it offers, or the fact regional flying has becoming a stepping-stone to the majors.

We all agree the RJ segment should not exist, but we disagree as to the cause of the problem.

The fact remains that every RJ that was flown at a regional was either coughed up under duress, or sold, or stupidly given away, by the respective pilot group at the major. You can't quit making mistakes if you can't acknowledge the error. That includes me, and the overwhelming majority of pilots, ALPA or not: we've voted for contracts that actually made the RJ problem worse.

It's pretty simple, really.

 

hey slow, I sent you a PM with my phone number email etc.
You obviously know who I am. Feel free to contact me.

If you care to elevate the discouse you know what to do
if on the other hand you just care to discredit me or my opinion keep going...
You're doing great!

He'll I'll even buy you a beer if you care to have a face to face conversation.

Cheers
George

 

Well said, Sink r8. The only distinction/correction I'd like to make is that regional flying has ALWAYS been a stepping stone to the majors. Nothing has changed in that regard... except that it now generally requires MORE time spent at the regional because there are fewer mainline jobs and more regional jobs... and the career is no longer worth the sacrifice! That, as you say, is our fault at the majors for giving away those jobs via relaxation in scope and for agreeing to obscene, unheard-of pay cuts.

 

Right: we've turned the stepping stones into stone paths, and the stone paths onto eight-lane concrete highways.

Some of these discussions are actually getting interesting, but I'm starting to log to much life-simulator time, and the real and family lives suffer accordingly. I'm out for a while.

Regards,

Sink r8.

 

Oh the irony,

The A330 CROT letter was signed by TO and 2 northies, one of which I have already left a message on his cell phone. It was signed on 22Dec. The DTW rep I talked to didn't know that the deal had been finalized and signed or that the CROT was independent of the LEC reps and NC as provided in the PWA. I didn't know they were independent either until this came up in a previous negotiation and was told that it was in the PWA. I believe that was prior to the changeover of LEC Officers in Council 20.

It was signed to finalize the deal on 31 Dec 10 by LM.

They should have just waited one day and TO could have signed in both places...

Edited for clarity and veracity

 

Are the DC-9s going to stay put at current bases until they are phased out or are they still plan on putting them in ATL? Doesnt seem logical to send them to ATL which will create a lot of training events.

 

...and for the record, I'm not out to "hang" any one guy or committee. I'm just asking questions that apparently are a little uncomfortable.

Since I'm all about "birthright" and "looking to the past" here's my look ahead on what threats we might encounter going forward:

VA JV is coming, the denial on the US side is unfounded, even ticket prices bear that out... I hope it will look like the AF JV but we have one flight and VA is growing. The longer we wait the later the reference snapshot is taken

Alitalia will be part of the AF JV pretty soon.
If we keep the current levels DL pilots benefit from the established ratio.
Let's hope that's the case.

Ual and Air Lingus are attempting to set up an outsourced StarAlliance carrier.
We better watch and lean and have a plan ready should we be faced with a similar situation.

Delta will most likely replace domestic 757 service with New A321 with sharklets. The threat: the ER category will be untangled from domestic 75 ops, let's hope the A321 gets rates that reflect the range/payload capability. But it will be a net loss of $$ to the pilot group if the flyig shifts from the ER to the A320 rate...

As you can see I'm all about assigning blame worrying about the past and have a strong sense of entitlement.

I just wish that same sense of entitlement was prevalent in getting delta flying performed by delta pilots (allowing for some JV and DCI flying with the right level of checks and balances in place as seen in the AF JV language.)

Unfortunately I had one guy admit to me that potential for future Delta pilots is not something that is a concern as long as current delta pilots are taken care of... That is precisly the attitude that troubles me...

But what do I know Im just a regional punk junior pilot who should be thankful he has a job (which I am ;-)

cheers
George

 

Whoa.... at first I thought you photoshopped my head in there from one of my wedding pictures. That guy looks shockingly like my profile.

Or is it really me? That's for this anonymous webboard to figure out.

 

Go back to the posts to which I responded. Tell me again what questions you asked? Refer to post #58745, #58737 and #58726 .

You're making assertions and implying motivations. That should make you a little uncomfortable. You still haven't acknowledged the timeline either.

As to the rest of your post, there's a lot of your opinion that I see potentially playing out. I don't buy the GTF logic yet, especially with Anderson as CEO. He likes proven product, and GTF isn't. Also, Pratt is going to take some of that fuel savings in profit for themselves...those things will be very expensive initially, and will also drive the airframe price higher.

It's unfortunate in my view that you choose to describe yourself in that manner in your closing sentence. Maybe someday you'll get that as a Delta pilot our interests are aligned, whether it's old, young, junior or senior.

 

Since no one has pointed this out and there was some confusion on it earlier:

This shows no net gain ER's coming out of the desert. The 10 international aircraft increase is the 10 772LR's that we took delivery of. That's it.

Also, the initial snapshot is from the beginning of 2007... before the economy went swirling around in the porcelain potty of the recession and numerous aircraft that are now parked were parked. I just hope we can get enough 90s to replace the aircraft that are being parked. We already know what the replacements to the DC-9-30's are, and we at mainline are not going to be flying them. No need to sugar coat that. Another benefit of failed foresight of small jet scope that is continuing to bite us (it's not that we want to keep looking at the past, slow... it's that it is continuing to screw us over and over again).

It looks like they are taking a more conservative approach and trying to catch up and fix our internal issues so we dont implode due to horrible CS, IT problems, and other issues. Not a bad thing... however aspirations of big bids, 748s, and huge amounts of widebody orders are nothing more than feel good thoughts. I'm sure they are being looked at and analyzed, but it won't make it beyond that for the foreseeable future.

80, out.