I think it would be great if LCC bought AS. Then all we need to do is buy Virgin America with all their A-320's they have ordered and use them to feed SEA, PDX, SFO, and LAX. Then we get a JV signed with Virgin Atlantic and rule the world until Dec 2012. An SLI with VA would be alot easier than an SLI with AS.

Without pulling out the PWA, Category A or C carriers are not defined by a holding company(s), which Republic Holdings is(holding company), but the certificate where the airplanes are operated.They have a bunch of em. Because Republic Holdings is deemed to be a holding company they have not been defined with the status of "Single Carrier." Sounds like a Merry-Go-Round, but the fact is that as it was explained to me way back when (circa 2005 or so) when they bought Shuttle America, At that time they did not meet the definition of single carrier status, since all of our coded flying was performed by separate certificates, all held by the holding company. Aircraft that violated our scope were flown by a different certificate and allowed to continue operations and our contracted flying was deemed to be in compliance. Look at at how Comair and ASA were defined when both where Wholly Owned carriers. How they were defined at the time leads us to where we are today. We may not like it, but it is where we are. Best way to solve this issue is to stop outsourcing our flying for. Can't get simpler than that.

I am too lazy to go look up all of the posts that Bar and I made on the subject, but they are here somewhere if you have the time. Maybe Bar will get off his bar stool and write something tonight, but I do not feel like rehashing it again. This issue comes up every six months and like it or not, this was the way it is defined after the changes were made to the PWA shortly after ACA liquidated, and Comair went up for sale.

Yes, they should and you may get your wish if we actually acquire Alaska.

Thin is defined by the fact that the RASM-CASM gap or Margin would disappear as soon as their was true competition on the routes. AKA not enough traffic to compete head to head with AS.

The numbers do not lie. I do not think it would be wise for DAL to willfully compete with AS on these routes. If we have to due to someone else buying them, we will but it will be bloody.

Let's see, we spent over a million dollars on the force majeure grievance after 9/11. When we lost the first round we went back and were able to get a recall started. We won the force majeure II grievance outright, guys got full back pay and were put back on active status. In the three years before the merger we got at least 30 million in settlements or grievance awards. Maybe you forgot that $1,000 you got as part of the manning grievance, that was just one award which exceeded $7 million.

I guess I could also mention the $2,000,000,000 that we got in bankruptcy returns due to us fighting them vigorously for 8 months. Need anymore, or is that enough?

Reality is that with the Code Share in place there is no way DAL will willfully do this. Sounds good, and is a good "red meat" moment, but the reality is that DAL has what they want, and until it is threatened by an external force the status quo will prevail.

My personal opinion is if DAL needs to feed our Asia ops quickly Virgin America becomes our bed mate. AS is much more preferable on many levels.

If you recall, even Virgin cannot sustain themselves' on these routes. They are bleeding competing with AS, and have focused on easier targets like DFW. Contrary to what many ppl think the N-S traffic on the West Coast cannot support the competition that the East Coast does. It has been this way since deregulation.

I don't think lawyers are notoriously cautious. Lawyers behave as their client wants them to behave. Especially, ones who are "of council" and salaried. If their client/employer wants them to pursue an angle, they will. In fact, they are obligated to follow their clients instructions as long as they are ethical and aren't criminal.

The ALPA guys in Contract Administration are responsible for determining whether a violation occurs. To do that, they gather the facts of what occurred, and if needed, consult with those individuals who actually negotiated the language, to determine whether that language was violated.

For what it's worth, the CEO of Continental Resources was on CNBC this evening. He says it costs them ~$60/bbl to extract.

News Headlines

RB

You mean the DALPA guys in Contract Administration...right?

Carl

I believe somewhere upwards of 600 rjs are tasked with "providing feed", just as they did prior to the merger in LAX

Fact is, the West coast yields are low for leisure fares but the highest grossing in the world for business fares...

LAX SFO is #4 worldwide, glad its sorta in-house again as a shuttle operation.

Cheers
George