I wonder if we should start worrying about the media spreading mass fear about the dreaded "swine flu!" I wonder how much this stupid thing is going to cost the airlines this Summer from paranoid passengers who refuse to fly.

Guys, if it hasn't already been pointed out. Africa is very senior.

Now the Sal stuff I don't know, but LOS is and I never could get a CPT trip out of JFK.

I was going to post the same. You wont be forced to fly Africa. The senior guys grab the trips. Getting 23 hours pay to fly a 3 day to ACC is not a bad deal. Grab a pizza and beer, enjoy the pool and work 9 days a month.
Capetown is perhaps the finest layover in the system. 10 bucks buys a Steak dinner anywhere. All day tours that are incredible are 40 bucks. I will admit the wine tasting tour is a bit grueling. How much wine can one man taste in one day! Even Dakar is not bad. Hang on at a large pool right on the ocean all day. One friend called the trip a 10 day vacation he would pay for!

Heh. And if you (a despised Yankee) are ever in Atlanta and someone tells you "Bless your heart", they're really telling you to go "stuff" yourself.

Still learning the code myself!

Excellent point. If memory serves, the SARS scare had a measurable impact on airline travel.

One point of trivia: If you ever see an Asian in the airport with a surgical mask on, don't assume that they're trying to keep YOU from contaminating THEM. Apparently, in some Asian cultures, it's considered quite rude for a sick person to be in public without wearing a mask, as they might contaminate those around them.

Quite civilized, when you think about it.

I, for one, would gladly fly the 330 out of DTW.

Oh yeah, the legendary poll in DKR, hence some of the reason for the high seniority. The other, 3 3-day 24.5 LOS trips and you've got a 73.5 hour line with 22 days off and you're free to grab some greenslips which on the ER are very profitable. Imagine a LOS greenslip ontop of everything.

Also, in CPT $170 and a half a day to spare you can jump in a cage and swim with Great Whites. $0, you can accidently knock the other pilot into the water at an opportune time and move up at least 1 number both overall and in category. :D

It's just the flu. People die from the flu every year and nobody cares. When the media gets ahold of it and puts monkey, swine, bird, or some other animal in front of it, it sounds horrible. If the media keeps running with it, which they will, I wouldn't be surprised to see it push Delta into the red for the year instead of turning a profit. We are already waiving change fees which tells you people are not going to Mexico as planned.

To be fair, the great influenza flu of the early 1900's more heavily affected healthy adults (15-34) before it spread to the general old and young population.

If it truly is an epidemic, it's not an irrational fear at all. While HEPA filters may keep the air in planes clean, the actual airplane surfaces (seatbelts, tray tables, seats, etc.) are germ factories. Let's be blunt: this is OUR workplace, and I'm not too keen on going to work with this one out there either.

Considering the porous nature of our southern border (where this thing originated), the P.C. crowd that is currently unwilling to do anything other than ask politely about "feeling ill" for those who actually do cross legally, and the general incompetence of Homeland Security (looking at you, TSA), this could go from bad to worse very quickly.

at the least my biggest fear with this flu is the collapse of the Mexican gonvernment under the weight of battling the drug cartels and a panico.

The problem is if the number of countries around the world warning against travel to north america increases substantially. We'll be wishing we were AirTran or SWA if that happens.