Timbo provided and excellent history lesson, but let's not forget the other side of the "good ol days." Ideally we restore the good and permanently discard the bad.

1. Pre 1996 the DAL pilots didn't have the jumpseat, even on their own airline!

2. In the 80s reserve was perpetual 24/7 short call for all the days you were on the hook! That can't happen now due to FAR 117. Still when I got hired 19 yrs ago your first day on reserve was automatic short call at 0300. To be fair with the old move up system you could often minimize the number of days you were on reserve.

3. As well as I did with our old Line of Time system I wouldn't want to go back. No vacation slide and no bidding for CQ. My last two sessions of CQ that were scheduled the old way (ie the company scheduled you and you couldn't bid on any CQ patterns) were almost comical in how much it screwed up my personal home life.

4. The biggest thing of all is that reserves were paid far less for the same trip as a regular line holders in the other seat. This was literally fixed two years ago with our FAR 117 side letter! It was a tremendous accomplishment, that many DALPA haters dismiss as if it were nothing.

I just like to point out both sides of the issues, because there usually are at least that many.

 

And the guys knocking down 120+ hours a month, and "selling back" their vacations are the first to complain about slow upgrades. Go figure!

 

all relevant points.....the question one might ask is why 19 years ago delta pilots didn't have much of what was accepted as boilerplate language in other carrier pwas?

 

Crew meals? Anyone remember "Bushy Boxes"? MmmMmm GOOD!

 

I think the days of complaining about slow upgrades are long gone. The vast majority of FOs that I fly with tell me they will not upgrade anytime soon because they cannot take the paycut. True story. Only the very junior guys are interested in upgrading, and most of them aren't interested either because they have been with the company a year or so and are holding international lines.

 

Too true!

 

Express bricks.

 

Well if you are going to bring up stuff that Timbo omitted, lets remember the paid APD trip drops as well.

Scoop

 

Reserve has gotten much, much better than 20+ years ago, no doubt, but there are also much fewer reserves required so it's 'good' for a smaller group. Don't forget that when you hit 75 hours you were done, not ALV+15 like today.

 

Yes all good points. I tend to fly less than most. However I am guessing if we went to a hard 75 hr cap a lot of guys would claim a pay cut.