Hey but at least they have Al Franken... :rolleyes:

Now that we have announced "Economy Comfort" on our long haul flights, does anyone know where this extra legroom/more recline space is coming from? Are they removing seats or are the rest of the economy pax getting squeezed a little more?

TSquare,

One of the economic factors that make our outsourcing successful is the destruction of union members' longevity.

Yes, at the DCI Carrier I worked for, the President (a Delta employee) would come in to recurrent and tell us that we had to leave when we got 5 years of longevity, that we senior Captains (6 to 7 years) were "killing the airline."

Those who have not worked in the this environment, do not appreciate just what these words mean to someone from a regional, not to mention the 20 year Captain who is getting displaced to First Officer. They are quitting, just as I quit following the frustration of losing my Captain seat when two dozen jets were moved to a non union replacement group.

The political make up of our new hires is going to be remarkably different from those Delta has hired in the past. Most will have a decade of fighting whipsaw and understand why we need a union which pays reverence to its core principles.

Interesting marketing. If the new seats are "Comfort", what does that tell you about the old seats? Here is what everyone else calls their "More Expensive Economy" cabins:

Premium economy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Notice a trend?

Pray for that pilot shortage they have been talking about.

There is something else.

All payscales don't stop at 12 years. Delta's (and many majors) do. In the regional industry it is not uncommon to 18-20 year scales for Captains. In the case of DCI, longevity is used as a whipsaw. The average Compass Captain is at 3 year scale for pay ($67/hr) and benefits. The average Comair Captain is at top of scale for pay ($99/hr) and benefits. The rest of DCI is someplace in between. The FO differences aren't as dramatic as those payscales generally stop at 8-10 years. Compass has a flow that for a period of time will reset their longevity. Comair doesn't. From Delta's perspective, even though their payscale is relatively aligned that makes a CMR pilot about 20% more expensive than the rest of DCI.

Longevity is something to consider for how you would bring DCI flying back to Delta and is going to be something the UAUA/CAL MEC 's are going to have to overcome in their negotiation if they're to retain CAL vice UAUA scope. For example, Delta's CRJ-900 rate is about $112/hr. That's about the same as M88 or A320 FO at 12 years, and is over $10 per hour greater than the DCI average at that longevity. Where do you think those pilots would bid? Generally to where the money/QOL dictates. Then compare that to the pilot cost per block hour where that flying is currently being done.

It's not a simple problem, in my view. Does this address your question, or did I miss it?

Slow,

If the Regionals are so much more efficient and cost effective than us, and I'm talking about the total cost (marketing, Financing, insurance, fuel, maintenance etc) then where are all the successful stand alone Regionals?

While they obviously look good on a direct Pilot to Pilot cost per hour, I wonder how they fare when fuel, marketing (oh thats right they don't do marketing) etc are thrown in.

Scoop

Uh... yet more egg on my face today. I guess I failed to RTFQ.. and wasn't clued in to the entire conversation. I thought the discussion weas solely about DAL pilots.. I'll go back to Cheers reruns..

Not to mention that DAL pays for their fuel, AND pays a higher price for it... or so I've heard. (from a pretty credible source I might add)

Any 757/767 guys have any input on how the ship sets are working out? I fly on Friday, and was wondering if I need a backup..