acl65pilot

Frankly, I think DAL would be willing to outsource everything below 150 seats. It would save their debt ledger billions in debt service, and reward them with a better credit rating. All of that pesky debt instantly becomes a operational expense and is no longer debt for DAL. Add to this, currently the regional airlines get better financing rates that Ma Delta does.

1234

Gloopy, I agree with you completely except for the part above in bold. I would change that to "extremely lucky" because I would consider someone to have been very lucky to no use sick time. They maybe got sick while on days off, or where healthy for a year but to say someone is extremely honest because they didn't call in sick begs the question, were they honest or did they actually go to work and fly while sick? I am not harping on you, but this is the exact attitude that many in management have is that the only pilots that are honest are the ones that never call in sick.

DAL 88 Driver

You don't know that for a fact. Again, you are relying on your "crystal ball" for that. One thing I can tell you from having been in this industry for a long time... you can never predict with certainty what will happen. All you can do is make the best decision you can with the information you have at the time. Sounds like you've done that. Good luck!

For now, I would have to question your decision to pass on SWA. As you rightly point out, they have a management that really knows how to manage. Extremely important consideration! And you MIGHT make Captain faster here. But in the meantime, the average SWA First Officer is making more than I did last year as a Delta Captain and WAY more than the average Delta First Officer! Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it was a bad decision for sure. When you reach age 65, you'll have your answer.

1234

I thought you were one of these young whipper snappers. Were you qualified to fly for Value Jet before they merged?

acl65pilot

I would have been in my early/mid 20's but I had the time and the connections there in the mid/late 90's. They basically offered my a job, but everyone that worked there told me they were going in the toilet, so I passed. I was referring to AAI in FL not Valuejet in ATL.I never even thought of them. Next thing I know they bought AAI and took their name. It would have been an interesting turn of events, but I never applied to the new AAI.

Not as young as some on here but I am still South of 40.

acl65pilot

I may get my answer before then, but flying a 737 for the rest of my life never appealed to me. I prefer the long haul flying here.

trlaketige

Of course it might be 70 by then.

MoonShot

Bored today, so I was curious how the reserve guarantee at Delta compared to various carriers.

From APC:

AirTran - Long call = 75 / Reserve = 78

Alaska - Long call = 75 / Short call = 79

American - 73

Continental - Long call = 72 / Short call = 76

Delta - 70

Hawaiian - 75

JetBlue - 75

Southwest - 79

United - 70

US Airways - Long call = 72 / Short call = 76

Anyone at any seniority could be on reserve (by choice or not) so while reserve probably only affect 20-25% of our pilot group, as a whole, it could come into play for any seniority number on the list. Looks to me like we are at the bottom in terms of guaranteed reserve compensation.

I have been on reserve 29 bid periods. 20 of those bid periods, I have failed to break the reserve guarantee (as adjusted for training and vacation compensation). I would wager that those numbers are probably similar for the rest of the pilot group. I'd say the floor of the reserve guarantee is too low for the 18 days a month that we are responsible for being on call. For the next contract, I hope that we can up the guarantee or reduce the number of on call days that we have.

Just food for thought.

Carl Spackler

Carl

DAL 88 Driver

That's an amazing projection of what ACL will look like at age 70!!! How did you do that?!