My response to the pay question did not involve Southwest.

I simply asked that we demand the same increase Delta / UHC has been getting on our health care coverage and a similar decrease in what we cover (productivity).

Since Richard used to run UHC, he surely understands what we mean when we say "increased premium for decreased coverage." UHC's profits are up 21% year on year through the first quarter 2010 so its strategy of acting like an unregulated monopoly (they have good scope) is rewarding them well.

When you baseline the cost of my coverage since 1999 through Delta and its various subsidiaries, the cost is up somewhere in the neighborhood of 350% while coverage is around 80% (very rough number) of what it once provided.

 

I don't fault those pilots. I fault our management who has put our brand secondary to cost. When they allow our brand to be pasted on an airplane with unknown quality, our brand gets tarnished.

Carl

 

Honestly, I think kicking the door open or having a passenger kick the door in would have sufficed. Not sure how this needed to become a national incident, but hey that's just me.

It's still an embarrassiment to DAL, but like Carl said that's what you get when you outsource your product.

 

(1) Stick his pen in the latch
(2) Pull the pins out of the hinge, or
(3) Kick the thing, repeat as necessary

Any Pilot who can't extricate himself from a plastic honeycomb door does not have the common sense to be in command of a jetliner.

Heck, how many of us have had those things simply fall out when bumped?

One one aircraft type Cockpit Door used to fall out when the power was pushed up for takeoff. the French had a complex electromagnet cockpit door locking system with a computer and lights. The problem was the hinges were the same crap that must be used to hold the glove box door on a Citroen 2CV. When a cockpit door hits the floor flat, it is really, REALLY, loud.

The FAA Certified the design. That doesn't say much. The FAA Certified the MD88.

 

I had one of these doors gets stuck one time. The long pin connecting the bi-fold doors together slid out and got caught on the lip of the floor. Almost had to get the axe to pry the door up and slide the pin over the lip. Real pain in the butt!! It would be real hard to get out from the inside. You'd have to put your back against the wall and kick the snot out of the door.

 

OK ... beats getting intercepted and as PO'd as I am about the upcoming displacement bid ... I might even enjoy it.

 

Hawaiian Airlines began operating Airbus aircraft in 2010 (operating only the A330-200 so far) and now has agreed commitments for 22 A330-200s, including four which the airline is leasing from aircraft lessors. Hawaiian currently operates five A330-200s.

“Adding these additional A330-200s to our fleet over the next four years will support the continued expansion of our network and replacement of our current 767-300s,” says Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian Airlines’ president and CEO.

“Our guests have responded enthusiastically to the cabin comfort and amenities of the A330-200, which, together with the superior service of our front line employees, offer the best airline experience for travelers to Hawaii,” adds Dunkerley.

“This has been our best week of the year in terms of sales, outside the Paris Airshow and it is very gratifying that Hawaiian tops it off with an order for five new A330 widebodies to fulfill their ambitious growth plans,” remarks John Leahy, Airbus’ chief operating officer, customers. “Just a year-and-a-half ago, I said I hoped that Hawaiian‘s passengers and employees would come to love this aircraft, and that hope has proven to be a reality.”

Hawaiian Airlines' livery is one of the most eye-catching and instantly recognizable of any airline's color schemes. This photo shows the tailfin and a winglet on one of Hawaiian's Airbus A330-200s

Hawaiian’s new A330s, like the carrier’s existing Airbus A330-200 fleet, will seat 294 passengers in two-class configuration and will have a range of more than 6,000 nautical miles.

As of the end of October, there were 433 A330-200s in operation worldwide, with a backlog of firm orders of 131.

Hawaiian Airlines has also placed firm orders for six Airbus A350-800 widebody jets for delivery later in the decade.

 

This part I agree completely.

I read today about Xiamen Airlines joining SkyTeam and how they are looking to commence/expand international operations in the next few years.

 

Delta's SkyTeam will add Xiamen Airlines, China’s sixth-largest airline, by the end of next year, it reported Thursday.

Based in Xiamen, a coastal city in East China’s Fujian province, Xiamen Airlines runs a network of domestic and regional services throughout China and Asia, predominantly from the hub airports of Xiamen, Fuzhou and Hangzhou.
Xiamen has more than 150 routes from its main hubs, covering most major and medium-sized cities in Greater China (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) as well as main cities in Southeast and Northeast Asia.

It has a fleet of 78 aircraft, but has plans to operate 136 by 2015 and expand into Australia, Europe and North America by 2014.

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) said the integration of Xiamen will be aided by major shareholder China Southern, the first Chinese airline that joined SkyTeam in 2007.


With plans to expand into North America by three of our Chinese Partners I wonder what we will have to give up "in good faith" to the newest partner? How many wide bodies do we have on order???

 

Here's the problem I've got with it: What the heck's an RJ doing flying a route so long a pilot can't hold it?