Originally Posted by Jesse (Post 1031736)

DAL paid $1 billion more last quarter than a year ago for fuel, yet still made a profit of $366 million. So when fuel costs weren't this high how could anyone (e.g. DALPA reps I come across) say the company can't afford pay restoration or anything close to it? The few DALPA guys I've flown with (both former and active) tell me profit sharing is the way to go, and that I shouldn't expect a significant (for me that means 20% or more) increase in pay (day 1).

I won't pretend to be as smart as a lot of guys on this thread about all things Delta, but I just don't get how one can make the argument pay restoration isn't affordable, yet at the same time a billion more can be found to cover other costs. And, yes, I get that ticket prices can more easily be increased to deal with fuel costs than they can for labor, but until someone starts making an argument labor costs increase as well, pilots all over are going to remain relegated to the results equivalent to their low expectations. Granted, the company is making moves to reduce costs and maximize revenue where it can, and we can't expect each quarter to be profitable with such huge fuel cost increases. But $1 billion more for the qtr compared to a year ago and I'm supposed to expect something around a 5% pay rate increase?

Originally Posted by Check Essential (Post 1031439)

Originally Posted by cni187 (Post 1031320)

Yeah I saw that. Wasn't blaming the pilots but everyone involved in all the taxi incidences. I used to taxi the C-5 so I guess I'm just ultra jumpy whenever it comes to airplanes moving on the ground

Originally Posted by Jesse (Post 1031736)

DAL paid $1 billion more last quarter than a year ago for fuel, yet still made a profit of $366 million. So when fuel costs weren't this high how could anyone (e.g. DALPA reps I come across) say the company can't afford pay restoration or anything close to it? The few DALPA guys I've flown with (both former and active) tell me profit sharing is the way to go, and that I shouldn't expect a significant (for me that means 20% or more) increase in pay (day 1).

I won't pretend to be as smart as a lot of guys on this thread about all things Delta, but I just don't get how one can make the argument pay restoration isn't affordable, yet at the same time a billion more can be found to cover other costs. And, yes, I get that ticket prices can more easily be increased to deal with fuel costs than they can for labor, but until someone starts making an argument labor costs increase as well, pilots all over are going to remain relegated to the results equivalent to their low expectations. Granted, the company is making moves to reduce costs and maximize revenue where it can, and we can't expect each quarter to be profitable with such huge fuel cost increases. But $1 billion more for the qtr compared to a year ago and I'm supposed to expect something around a 5% pay rate increase?

Originally Posted by KC10 FATboy (Post 1031783)

To add to your great comment, according to Steve Dickson's Weekly Update Friday July 29th, since we've paid off a large portion of the debt, DAL will save $500 million in interest each year.

DAL pilots saved this company. I think it's time for a payback.

Originally Posted by sailingfun (Post 1031791)

The 500 million in interest savings is when we have paid the debt down to 10 billion. We are currently at 13.6 billion and have a long way to go to get to 10 billion. Our last quarter was really not that impressive. Much of the profit was from 1 time gains and we cut way back on infrastructure improvements. Until DAL gets its house in order from a customer service prospective which so far management has been a failure at I would not expect great things. If Cal management can bring their customer service to UAL things might get ugly. On the other hand from talking to a couple of Airtran guys ATL is going to be really difficult for SW after management jumped into the SLI list and is using the gun to the head method to force ratification. The SW culture wont exist there for a very long time even if the list is ratified.

Originally Posted by johnso29 (Post 1031793)

I don't think UAL is even close to getting it's labor groups merged. Things could get ugly for SWA too.

Originally Posted by johnso29 (Post 1031793)

I don't think UAL is even close to getting it's labor groups merged. Things could get ugly for SWA too.

Originally Posted by sailingfun (Post 1031791)

The bill for fleet renewel will be huge.