What do you think the odds are that they change the bidding software such that all trips (or a certain percentage variable each month) that a LCP bids, get removed from the available trips for FO's. This would reduce the impact to the company and therefore minimize/negate the "anticipated value" of this change.

Just thinking out loud, and yes, now my brain hurts....

That would be a big NO go. In many categories the LCAs are very senior lineholders that are able to hold the best trips. What you are suggesting would totally negate th bidding power of senior B's and the turd would just roll downhill from there.

We've already adopted to a 95% change from the way we way we flew it pre-merger. At this point, pushing forward with the rest of the 5% won't hurt our feelings. :D

Yeah, I know. Please understand I'm not trying to downplay all the changes you guys had to go through. I feel for ya!

But that's one of the things that is so puzzling to me. I'm not sure how to quantify it in terms of percentage, but I wouldn't say that the current DC-9 operation is 95% the same as the MD-88. Nowhere close. (When I finished DC-9 training, I had a 4 page MS word document of discrepancies/standardization issues.) So if they were going to change a bunch of things on the DC-9 from the way NWA did it, why would they change it to yet a third standard instead of changing it to the way Delta does the same thing on the MD-88... or changing the MD-88 to standardize it with the DC-9? When you're trying to accomplish the same exact thing with the same exact system at the same exact airline, it just doesn't make sense to me to do it one way on the DC-9 and do it a different way on the MD-88. Pick the way you think is best, and go with that. I thought that's what they were supposed to be doing. And that is what I expected when I showed up for training. It was frustrating to find out this had not been done.

Anyway, like I said. In the grand scheme of things, it's not the end of the world and may not be all that important to some guys. Just something to throw into the mix of things to consider when bidding.

You've just illustrated why SW is the 73N/320 combined fleet captain. It is amazing how manuals written the same way can be interpreted so differently between two training departments... it's slowly coming together though, as PF I can finally touch the MCDU! I still think it's dumb that you can't run the after start checklist before the waveoff. It's "after start," not "before taxi." And.. it's 2 freaking items with only one the captain has to look at it.

For you boeing guys, the airbus is quite scary since it has sesame street colored hydraulic systems. The big bird colored system needs to be powered by the electric system so the oscar the grouch colored system doesn't loudly drive big bird through the PTU. Oh, and the cookie monster system doesn't really play with either of those. Although I swear you can hear the cookie monster saying "cookie cookie cookie cookie" after engine shutdown.

I know you weren't coming at it from that perspective, 88. I was just messin' with ya. Thanks for the insight. As the -9 winds down, it's just another thing to consider.

At this point, I think factor #1 will be where can I get to and stay a long time. I'll learn anything, anyway they want to teach me. But, I only have so many brain cells left for initial training cycles.

I hear ya. But given the uncommutability of a lot of trips at Delta the pilots from MEM have one very distinct advantage over all commuters, the ability to get there..

http://www.flightglobal.com/assets/g...x?itemid=30906

Ya gotta watch out for those interweb rumots!


By Andrea Ahles
[email protected]
After a week of all-day talks and hopeful declarations, American Airlines and its pilots union could not reach a tentative contract agreement this week.
In a message to members Friday afternoon, the Allied Pilots Association's negotiating committee described the intensive talks as "productive" but "discouraging."
"We continue to work hard to move the process forward, but as previously briefed on multiple occasions, large gaps still remain in many areas, including compensation, domestic code-sharing, phased-in productivity tied to growth, a new hire pension structure, sick and vacation," the update said.
A tentative agreement would cover about 10,000 pilots.
No negotiations are planned over the weekend. American spokeswoman Sue Gordon said that the company was willing to continue meeting but that the union chose to take time off.
"Our team began the week with a goal of getting a tentative agreement into the hands of our pilots," Gordon said. "We believe we must continue to work toward an agreement that meets the needs of both our pilots and our airline."
American said it will prepare proposals to give to the union Monday before a union board meeting Tuesday and a meeting of the AMR Corp. board scheduled for Wednesday. The company had been pressing to reach a deal before the board meeting. It was unclear Friday when the negotiating teams would meet again, though the union indicated that it will take a break during Thanksgiving week.
This is the second time in two months that the parties have failed to reach an agreement after accelerated negotiations. In October, they met for several days at Lake Texoma in an attempt to strike a deal before the company's third-quarter earnings report.

You cannot believe everything you read on the internet.

-Abraham Lincoln

I would highly suggest the MEM 320 B guys senior to superpilot92 to consider MSP, NYC and DTW. :)

Fifi in mem is a lot more senior than I thought it was... in fact oddly enough in placing myself in that list, I would be right where super is! There's over a 1000 number gap in the list.

Welp, maybe Delta wants to pay for yet another training event for me. :) Hopefully all the new A slots that opened up will help even it out....