All so true, the stock buy back is already yesterday's news. If they had spent a fraction of the money on supertugs for every hub, and a replacement for the MD-80's it would have been $ well spent. RA and his minions aren't looking so smart anymore. Blowing billions on stockbuybacks and fuel hedges to go along with a now questionable refinery purchase. It's starting to look like RA and the boys are only interested in lining their pockets long term. If they wanted to reduce the stock float why not do a reverse 2 for 1 or 4 for 1 split? I know, Wall Street would hate that but the effect would be only temporary as all things are.

You asked. Let's leave the DALPA vilification of the DPA founder out of the conversation and weigh the benefits of each item below as it stands on its own merit.

PS- don't waist your breath telling us to change from within, it's been tried multiple times. The political insiders quickly shut down those who have tried. Resolutions to bring more transparency have largely been ignored (ie show who's using FPL, open old survey results to the membership to see if we stayed "on target"). That's a story for another day.

If ALPA conducted themselves with transparency and implemented even a third of these ideas below, the level of distrust from the membership would drop dramatically overnight. We know ALPA isn't about the membership though.

1) Represents Delta Pilots exclusively, no conflicts
2) 1% dues goal (fully accountable to members)
3) President/Reps are elected by membership
4) Open finances accessible by all members
5) Reps are paid by member dues/earned flying
6) Reps fly a half line minimum (reality based)
7) Pres. paid like SWAPA Pres. (line avg +30%)
8) Housing allowances modeled after SWAPA
9) Transportation allowances similar to SWAPA
10) Reps pay modeled after SWAPA (line avg
+25%), greater empathy for seniority block
11) Reps paid at rate bid, no super seniority
12) No regular business/trip drops on holidays
13) Routine work done over teleconference
14) Hotels like crew layovers
15) Focused on wise use of member dues
16) Meetings held in crew base locations only
17) Alcohol not provided at meetings
18) Dues used for exclusive benefit of Delta pilots
19) Influence used solely for Delta pilot mandates
20) Focused attorneys - no conflicts of interest
21) Assn. not responsible for representing others
22) No other airline has a say in Delta contract
23) Five year non-compete clause
24) Survey results posted - full accountability
25) Professional negotiators backed by pilots
26) Seniority Blocks - uniform size and makeup
27) Safety program has full autonomy/budget
28) All grievances pursued in timely manner
29) Simplified contracts professionally written
30) Focused solely on protecting DAL pilots
31) No conflicts of interest/ focused on DAL pilots
32) Members have full digital access to finances
33) Delta Pilots MEMRAT dues rate/Constitution
34)Pilot demands pursued/represented
35)Digital photograph of President sufficient

Could not agree more. When you are entitled to 167 million in stocks and your retirement CJ4 vanishes in a day as fund managers dump airlines its not hard to connect the dots leading up to retirement. Like I've always said, we need a 30-40 year deal, these guys make generations worth of income and wealth in a fraction of that.


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Now let's highlight a few items we do have (see below). Is there any question why we have trust issues with our union? They don't govern themselves in an open/transparent way that promotes trust. Then you have to ask yourself, why do they operate in such a fashion. The multiple possible reasons why, lead to nothing good for this pilot group.

3) President/Chairman is chosen by a small group
4) Refuses to publish 2010/2011 Flight Pay Loss data
5) Designated Reps are paid by the company
6) Reps are not required to fly specific amounts
7) President compensated $540K in 2011
8) Pres. has $6,500/month housing allowance
9) Pres. has $1,300/month car allowance plus gas
10) Designated MEC officials earn 92 hr guarantee
plus $1000/$1500 override plus green slips
11) Designated Reps paid at rate could hold vs bid
12) Reps drop trips for ALPA work over holidays
13) $1.67M in expenses in 2010 for 12 meetings
14) $329/night each for 80 rooms in Times Square
15) $260/day/person on food/drink at NY meeting
16) Meetings at resort destinations FLL, MCO, LAS
17) Dues dollars used to buy alcohol at meetings
18) Dues directly subsidize regional competition
22) Regionals influence DAL scope language
23) Leaders move on to management jobs
24) Surveys kept secret/ignored - no accountability
25) Pilot negotiators use conflicted attorneys
26) Base reps - varied demographics/base size
28) Grievances rarely pursued
29) Contracts are poorly written/loopholes
33) Dues rate/Constitution changed w/o MEMRAT
34) Sought 4% DOS raise, pilot demands ignored
35) $36,000 Oil portrait of Pres. required by policy

A complete list can be found on the DPA website.

You do a good job of making this point but just to be clear for the new guys that aren't aware, it wasn't our managements first choice to have Delta pilots doing the Delta flying out of Seattle. Delta management was ready to increase the outsourcing there had Alaska's Tilden agreed.

Even today, if Tilden changed his mind, all that juicy new flying out of SEA could vanish overnight. Don't believe it? We are still operating it as a "non hub" even though our management calls it a hub in the press. Let's not rely on the Alaska management to determine if we keep that flying. Let's lock in the hub status NOW and preserve our flying.

"Delta at one point offered for Alaska to exclusively feed its international flights, in return for Alaska not sharing flights with other international carriers, an offer that Alaska declined."

“We had conversations with Alaska over the years, about exclusivity on international routes,” Medeiros said. “We were looking to tighten that relationship, but that’s not something they were interested in doing. Since we had a good number of international flights, we decided to create a Seattle hub.”

Alaska, Delta downplay talk of any animosity, though both aggressively seek a bigger share of a lucrative market - Puget Sound Business Journal

And if you volunteer and refuse to submit a reimbursement expense they REALLY frown upon that. My belief is that it goes to show you cannot be bought or controlled.


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Your analysis is spot on except for the reasoning. It has nothing to do with goodwill. Everyone knows there's almost no such thing as long term investors anymore. Institutionals and hedge funds are very short term oriented. This buy back is NOTHING MORE than management using internally generated cash to buy stock as needed to ensure their stock options can be exercised at a profit after the lock-up date. It's a pure personal enrichment play.

If the health of the company was their main focus, they would use these funds as you've suggested above.

Carl

Exactly right Carl. Returning money to the investors is pure BS. RA and his minions are becoming quite wealthy with all this. The luster has completely worn off and we have an MEC with Stockholm Syndrome. The problem WE as pilots have is membership apathy. Nobody bothers to show up at LEC meetings, or even bother to vote in their LEC elections.

Go back and read my post where I spoke to my rep. It WAS DN....he is for keeping SLOA, 23G, etc, etc.

Step 1: elect Carl's friends
Step 2: doesn't matter.

This is a power struggle. The TA is an inconsequential backdrop for the guys who want to be in charge. It's been going on for over 11,000 posts, +/- some excellent underboob. DPA, C2012, whatever:

it's. a. power. struggle.

You can take just about any situation going several years back, and interchange the posts: they all say the same thing.

The real questions are 1) can the guys actually doing the work can get the best outcome possible with Carl's friends rehearsing speeches in front of the mirror instead of studying the information, and unable to make actual decisions, 2) do the guys actually doing the work have the right read on the situation, and 3) is there really a deal to be had early that works for the Delta pilots?

Oh, and if you're, say, a Delta pilot waiting to express your view via a vote, or looking for an exchange of perspectives on specifics, sit down in the back of the room, and try to keep your mouth shut, so as not to interrupt the power struggle. Carl will tell you how to vote.