Excellent post Buzz, very insightful imo. I'm also a member of the get 2 pins at a time club. It's a club that I hope more Delta pilots will not be joining anytime soon. I do believe that better times are in our future.

 

The point those of us who are saying the buckets need to be adjusted to something less than the current values isn't that we aren't getting what we expected in this career. While not to your level, we have experienced that as well. We've gotten a merger, we've had the great recession, we've got high oil prices, etc., etc., and we're the bottom of the bottom. No, what makes this different is that it's our own representation twisting the knife. This is like bread and circuses. How about working to get back to everything that was given up, and not just seniority reserve? I say put your energy and determination to getting restoration back. But you won't even hear that said. But throw some junior reserves under the bus? Can do easy.

 

The many faces and emotions of Eli Manning:

The Many Faces and Emotions of Eli Manning - SportsPickle Opinion

 

That's exactly what I'm talking about.
There are debts to be repaid...some of them financial.

I'd like to see all Delta pilots move up, and those who'd like to retire filled up and taken care of so they feel they can. I filled out my contract survey accordingly.

The disconnect now is that despite external threats Delta is wildly successful.
2 consecutive years of Billion dollar profits means the corporate side's needs have been met and exceeded. Seniority progression is the only real long-term payback because everything else hinges on that number...

As for me, I'm a post 9/11, post bird-flue, post housing crisis hire. My expectations weren't really very high at all. And while I'm supposed to be "happy to have a job" I'm one of those malcontents that thinks that when the company is making money on an insane level, the pilots ought to benefit by having career progression. I'm happy there are smart guys running the show and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. On the other hand I'm also not under the delusion that somehow it will all payoff in the future. That old adage has been proven to be quaint old concept. The here and now is all that matters exactly because of the experience of the last 10 years...There is no payback, no deferred compensation. Chances are there won't be a seniority bubble because the retirement age will just go up again to unlimited as it just did in Canada. That's just the reality. Anybody who thinks somehow there will be deferred improvements is kidding themselves.

Reality check: we aren't holding any IOUs, not for pay, not for seniority, not for hiring, not for production balance and that's just how it is.

Cheers
George

 

Nevermind. Elvis is too fast for me.

 

Awh. You beat me to it. The next Jeopardy question is mine, all mine.

 

I'll take this one, Alex.

What is 'newK always wins except when he doesn't?'

 

When he has a Wichita layover.

 

NewK I though you had gone to the Classic:

Cheers
George

 

You mean 10 years maybe flying internationally. The rest of the 10 would have been spent behind a desk or deployed or beating up the pattern in a tweet or T-38, or god forbid flying a UAV.