Buzz, it is the sad reality of it all. A great guy like you will a awesome second career, and a military pension is looking elsewhere. Those that have none of those are in a different position financially and are looking even harder. This one really matters. Pilots are looking inside and outside of this career, many of whom are accepting of a temporary hit financially to get a head in the mid and long term.

 

Thanks ACL. I don't wanna leave. I really enjoy Delta and the guys I fly with. But, with a wife and three young kids I have to do the best I can to provide. If that means leaving, I will. Certainly a below expectations contract will have me looking to do just that.

 

It is crazy to stand at that fence, but I've never heard of anyone getting hurt because there's never been anyone so blatant and stupid to pull off a stunt of that magnitude with a Part 121 airliner.

Please tell me this is being investigated? oh wait... I can google it.

 

buzz, I surely hope you dont have to leave but I'd understand.

 

.........................

 

Anyone ever taken their iPhone on a romantic swim in salt water? Did it dry out and work again?

 

Yes and no. Actually dropped mine into a tall cocktail one night. That was an expensive drink.

 

I know you know this, but just to clarify some murky concepts about how this works, DALPA/ALPA most definately does merge seniority lists, through contractual language on M&A/F, permitted types and operational integration. Otherwise DL management could have whipsawed DL and NW post merger and awarded flying to the lowest bidder of the day. But we have language to force that issue...scope and M&A/F.

ALPA could have facilitated the PID but instead created an absolutely insane construct of what "operational integration" was tailored specifically to exclude ASA/CMR and then tried to clean the rest up with bylaws and the executive structure caste system.

ASA/CMR cut their own throats when they, too, were overcome with mass arrogance thinking there was no escape from their policy mandate and that soon they would be committed to a merger and from that position of nothing to lose, they would swing for the fences using "the policy" to go for DOH...knowing they almost definately wouldn't get it, but anxious that "the process" would get them something inbetween DOH and a staple, which was the mother of all windfalls and they would rather risk the whole thing than give up on that fantasy.

Back to point, ALPA/DALPA very much has a massive role to play in our seniority list and its integration with others or not. Arguably, its one of the biggest and most basic functions of ALPA at the DAL level...the DL pilot's seniority list. If it weren't, management would just divide the list tomorrow 50 ways and let us all duke it out underbidding eachother. Thankfully it doesn't work that way.

 

Sure they will go for it. They are already not only going for it today, at this very moment, but they are militant in insisting that it be the case. They will demand a lower compensation scheme for FA's, Mechs, Dispatchers, etc and they would get it very easilly by framing the debate with them the same way they do with us: You want that flying/work back? What are you willing to pay to get it back? The answer will be zero, and a B scale or fake alter ego company like Regional Elite will be born in 2 seconds to facilitate it.

As bad as we are with being short sighted, other work groups get it less because they don't even really get what scope even is. When they are told we are bringing thousands of new FA jobs in house but they will be on a B scale or isolated at a separate company or they will have to "pay for it" then they will pencil whip their own B scales faster then ALPA ever dreamed of doing.

You mean in the post 9-11 emergency survival PWA that the company recieved an extension to in order to facilitate a massive revenue producing merger? Well of course, nothing in that PWA is going to force the issue. But that misses the point.
Agreed.

Of course. When will that be? Who knows, but all it will take is one well regarded analcyst to start doing it and that fake phony paper paradigm will change on a dime...but naturally the ivy league's best and brightest will have already committed to decades of leases and CPAs and only after being caught completely off guard will proably come squealing to us for some kind of relief that involves more outsourcing.

No doubt about that. My point in all this is that flight attendant, mechanic and dispatch costs are not our concern, and furthermore they aren't much of a concern to the company since all they have to do is toss the red meat of a B scale on an issue the other work groups don't even understand and they would just as likely end up saving even more money. I'm just tired of the "what about the FA's and other work groups, that makes it too expensive" arguement. Its not our problem and not even a concern to management really.


I do agree that DAL wants brand recognition, but seems to no want to in-source the work to control the brand. With all of the code shares et al, they really do appear to desire being a ticket broker more than an airline. We can and have in the past stopped our airline from making bad decisions. I hope that we can show value in performing your own work, and not just value that can be easily reported on a 10K. The real value of performing your own work or flying in our case comes in the form on a overall appearance and perception of a product. That often cannot be reported as a line number on a balance sheet. It shows up as loyalty with a larger bottom line, but no in the way the mba's of today are used to reporting.

 

mine went for a swim, it sat wet for a couple hours then went into a bag of rice for 24 hours and that did the trick. Airport chinaman can sell u dry rice usually.