I'm guessing that the MSPDC9 bid package is fairly representative of what the ATL rotations will look like since they DH on each side to ATL. Lots of 5 leg, 12 hour days! Ouch...

Me too.. I am an LCP and I have never heard any of the stuff that gets reported as such...

Maybe I am not in the management side of the LCP program

ACL are you involved in negotiations at all?

ACL, I think you just hit the nail on the head..... The ATL DC9 is going to bridge that gap I believe. The growth of the 100 seat catagory would fit in with the continued pulldown of the 50 seat aircraft. This allows us to keep capacity discipline, reduce frequency, and shift those ASM to more efficient aircraft. An AW&ST article last year said that nearly 500 50 seat RJ's would be parked across the US with the next 5-10 years, nearly 300 of which were used to sub-contract at Delta Air Lines. Keeping this size aircraft will allow us to take control of our product, keep harmony within the pilot group during future consolidation, and give ALPA the opportunity to stay on the property.

Something is in the works.

TC

It's the toughest upgrade training around.

Yeah... that 50 percent pay raise is really going to sting... :-)

Last night I jumped seated out of ATL on a CRJ700. I was looking around the ramp and noticed some significatant changes. All new baggage carts, many new peices of GSE, and new fuel stations with solar panels on the top of the refueling carts. Then taxied out past the new International Terminal. It's almost palpable, things are turning.

Delta is investing a lot of money back into itself. I'm sure this is partially for taxes, but also I believe we are positioning ourselves for the recovery.

...and 20 years to upgrade. You've seen their retirement data?

True, it should and it does. Seniority already equates to higher pay, choice of days off, choice of vacation, more vacation, more sick time, higher non rev priority and many other factors. What many don't support though is the return to the bloated days of the past where senior reserves in every category flew only a few times a year, triple dip touch drop vacation scams, triple dip buddy bidding with LCA's (which we now have back? srsly?) and other really expensive ways to add pilots and costs for the company for comparitively smaller benefits for the entire pilot group.

The RAW buckets are just too high. Other than that, the system wouldn't be that bad. Either way though, once staffing catches up (either by growth...HA!...or retirements) even 80 RAW buckets will mean all reserves will fly equally again. It will just mean some fly more the first two weeks while others fly the last two weeks.

I'd rather see smaller buckets with the ability for reserve pilots to pick, in seniority order of course, trips from open time that they would then "own" just like a lineholder would. Add that to some of the improvements we've seen as well as the ones to be phased in next month and it wouldn't be a bad system over all. Of course it still pays about 40% less per hour than SWA's narrowbodies, makes 8 hours a month less credit and works about 30 more RSV days a year than SWA.

The first time, or second time?