Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?
03-17-2011 | 05:53 AM
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From: A-320A
Your characterization of how people are chosen is completely off the mark. There are two big hurdles that I see with people that are new volunteers to ALPA. First, at Delta you should expect that when you step into that office your workload will be double what you had as a line pilot. Some are not used to those kinds of demands and walk away. It can be stressful on your family too. The joke is that AIDS stands for ALPA Induced Divorce Syndrome, and like most jokes there is some basis in reality. You need to work this out with your family ahead of time.
Second, when you walk into the office, you should not expect to run the show. Some pilots walk in and start making demands about how things should work. Often these demands are based on the same webboard bravado that has no basis in reality. Those pilots often walk away in a huff because they expected to be the boss on day one.
If you want to really do ALPA work, you should get ready to roll up your sleeves and get down to work. You should also spend a few months listening, learning and asking questions. After you have spent some time learning the complexity of issues, then you will be ready to make suggestions about how to best accomplish the tasks you have been assigned by the MEC. If you are successful in adding to the debates, you will find more responsibility and have a chance to shape the direction of the union to a greater degree. We have a hierarchical organization and you are not going to be boss on day one.
People that are unable to overcome those two obstacles will not spend a lot of time working there. Many people that have done or are doing union work, like I used to, started off full of p!ss and vinegar and thought, "if they only listened to me, everything would be fixed tomorrow". Eventually, I saw that I didn't have all the answers, the issues were complicated and I wasn't the only one with ideas. That is how you make a difference. I didn't have a class ring, I wasn't in anyone's squadron, just did the work and became part of the team.
It's open to anyone and I encourage you young folks to step up. I having too much fun flying right now to do it again full time. Your turn.
Second, when you walk into the office, you should not expect to run the show. Some pilots walk in and start making demands about how things should work. Often these demands are based on the same webboard bravado that has no basis in reality. Those pilots often walk away in a huff because they expected to be the boss on day one.
If you want to really do ALPA work, you should get ready to roll up your sleeves and get down to work. You should also spend a few months listening, learning and asking questions. After you have spent some time learning the complexity of issues, then you will be ready to make suggestions about how to best accomplish the tasks you have been assigned by the MEC. If you are successful in adding to the debates, you will find more responsibility and have a chance to shape the direction of the union to a greater degree. We have a hierarchical organization and you are not going to be boss on day one.
People that are unable to overcome those two obstacles will not spend a lot of time working there. Many people that have done or are doing union work, like I used to, started off full of p!ss and vinegar and thought, "if they only listened to me, everything would be fixed tomorrow". Eventually, I saw that I didn't have all the answers, the issues were complicated and I wasn't the only one with ideas. That is how you make a difference. I didn't have a class ring, I wasn't in anyone's squadron, just did the work and became part of the team.
It's open to anyone and I encourage you young folks to step up. I having too much fun flying right now to do it again full time. Your turn.
Do not forget that one must believe that the majority position rules, even when it is not yours. When this happens, you must be willing to devote your efforts to that end.
03-17-2011 | 05:55 AM
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From: A-320A
DAL has officially announced a temporary suspension of the HND flights. It is on DALnet.
03-17-2011 | 06:02 AM
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From: 767er Captain
TSquare is right on the mark. Unless you are wearing the right class ring, or were in the right squadron, you ain't getting on any committee other than as the toilet scrubber, and probably not even that.
Notice that the only people that are trying to change anything are elected LEC reps...NOT by anyone in the appointed committees, which is to say almost all of them.
I VASTLY preferred the fNWALPA committee structure. The very nature of the MEC/LEC/Committee membership ensured that there was at least one different viewpoint on the committee.
Nu
Notice that the only people that are trying to change anything are elected LEC reps...NOT by anyone in the appointed committees, which is to say almost all of them.
I VASTLY preferred the fNWALPA committee structure. The very nature of the MEC/LEC/Committee membership ensured that there was at least one different viewpoint on the committee.
Nu
03-17-2011 | 06:03 AM
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From: 767er Captain
That would then require the commercials to be shot with 777s and not 747s. For the sake of advertising and posters around the training center, the 747 is beloved and for that alone, it stays. 
I'm not even going to guess on 747s and fleet plans, I know nothing. But I thought they were all flying now?
I'm not even going to guess on 747s and fleet plans, I know nothing. But I thought they were all flying now?
Now do ya'll see the reason for longevity based pay?
03-17-2011 | 06:09 AM
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From: 767er Captain
Seriously, I'm retired military and have other irons in the fire, so, my experience is this: flying commercially ain't what it used to be but it's still better than most. I do it because I love to fly, I like most of the guys I fly with, and I like the jet I fly. I also hope that our next contract will allow me to be less dependent on the other income I've had to rely on since I chose this "profession" in the first place. Take the stuff you read on this forum for what it is....just a bunch of pilots with too much time on their hands. That's what makes it fun.
03-17-2011 | 06:18 AM
veut gagner à la loterie
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From: Light Chop
Seriously, I'm retired military and have other irons in the fire, so, my experience is this: flying commercially ain't what it used to be but it's still better than most. I do it because I love to fly, I like most of the guys I fly with, and I like the jet I fly. I also hope that our next contract will allow me to be less dependent on the other income I've had to rely on since I chose this "profession" in the first place. Take the stuff you read on this forum for what it is....just a bunch of pilots with too much time on their hands. That's what makes it fun.
It's just that if anyone mentions something about life before and after a merger then it can resemble what happened to a buddy of mine who flew car dealership guys around to auctions in a Navajo. He was driving a van one day with 4 buyers, 2 Israelis and 1 Syrian and 1 Lebanese. Somebody mentioned the word Holocaust and well it got ugly. He pulled over on the side of the interstate to pull them apart. That can be this place.
But hey, I've got the second good book on my desktop. The one and only CA 09-12. Put that in the search window of deltapilots.org and download all 1,100 page and 11MB of it. Then bring up a topic and key word search it and it'll go through the PWA, get to know your contract, transition for NWA pilots to DAL contract info, when scheduling calls, etc. Great lamens explanations of the stuff.
That said, every question should be asked and thus we can discuss. There was, gosh was it Sink that created those threads about get to know your contract after Latest and Greatest had that massive house fire a year or so ago? Maybe I should go look but I bet they expired.
Uh, I'd be in big trouble if ever caught, so for me and those of you who:
may I suggest the laptop privacy filter:
Just slip it on, slip into bed, post at will and stare at Capn's post-it-note girl all ya want.
It is apparent when they stated they wanted to get out of the RJ business, they meant owning them, not flying them
As I have said, most of the RJ flying terminates by 2020, and Pinnacle's new contract in 2022. Go look on the 10K. The number of RJ's gets paired down quite quickly in the latter half of the decade. To solve the issue, we just need to hold firm at a min, with a commitment from the company to not write new agreements, or modify or extend the existing ones. That alone solves the issue. These current RJ's are going to be obsolete when the new gen stuff like the C-Series arrives. The CASM on these RJ's will kill em.
As I have said, most of the RJ flying terminates by 2020, and Pinnacle's new contract in 2022. Go look on the 10K. The number of RJ's gets paired down quite quickly in the latter half of the decade. To solve the issue, we just need to hold firm at a min, with a commitment from the company to not write new agreements, or modify or extend the existing ones. That alone solves the issue. These current RJ's are going to be obsolete when the new gen stuff like the C-Series arrives. The CASM on these RJ's will kill em.
If RJ's are out there flying BNA-PNS, OMA-MCI, STL-ELP, more power to them. That's what they should've always been doing. Not ATL-MDW/ORD or what have you.
03-17-2011 | 06:22 AM
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From: Light Chop
03-17-2011 | 06:31 AM
Gets Weekends Off
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From: Flying the SEC
Just to pile on...
03-17-2011 | 06:34 AM
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From: Light Chop
Well that's just gonna dill Tsquare's sweet pickle there Satch.
03-17-2011 | 06:36 AM
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From: 767er Captain
*sigh* What could have been....
Now it appears that our AD has flown into full blown Alzheimer's with the latest on Bruce Pearl... Will this nightmare ever stop?
Now it appears that our AD has flown into full blown Alzheimer's with the latest on Bruce Pearl... Will this nightmare ever stop?
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