Thats actually pretty amazing. Ive never seen this sort of movement for the bottom of the list.

When we had Express, it was about 2 years to captain. But, that capt seat paid the same as ER FO. Back then you couldnt hold ER FO for probably 3-4 years as the plug.

That is pretty amazing, I remember the (Delta) world being shocked when about 20 of us B Scale guys got MD88 and DC9 Captain bids...

at ONLY 6 YEARS!:eek:.

But that was in 1991, and it only lasted about a year, then Delta decided to sell all the DC9's (those planes ended up at Value Jet) and all us 6 year Captains were displaced back to F/O, for another 8 years in my case, as the 737-200 fleet was next to leave mainline, for Express, at only $100/hr for Captain. ER F/O was $120/hr. for my years of service at the time (11).

I think when Express first started in 1996, the bottom 3 Captains were just recalled off furlough and had never even flown copilot at Delta, they were engineers when furloughed in 1993.

So you're saying these new Capts shouldn't be buying a yacht yet?

Exactly what I was trying to convey.

UAL had movement like this in the mid 90s. But, they also had pilots signing letters that they wouldnt seek upgrade.

This is extraordiary movement. I am happy for the pilots getting the bids. Its happening at fedex too. Good times.

The only thing constant in this industry is...

Change!

I think the guys getting Captain bids today are 'safe' for now... not that their pay rate would buy a yacht, but this hiring is due to retirements not growth, and that's not going to stop unless the FAA raises the age again.

Of course Delta could merge with someone else tomorrow and stop hiring the next day due to more synergy, you never know what they have up their sleeves.:rolleyes:

I'm well junior to you and made 727A in NYC in 1998. You chose to remain as an FO, right? Also, the top rate for the 737 in MCO was around $114 per hour, as I considered bidding it. Those guys made a lot o $$$ when they started a GSWC campaign before the C2K negotiations. The union blew that whole case as that was a precedent.

As someone who is cursed with remembering minutiae from the past, but can't remember what he had for lunch yesterday, this is just factually wrong, especially regarding Express.

I don't feel like a long-winded history lesson right now, but I might be willing to spell it all out later.

Does it make you want to rethink the way we get paid?

He isn't upgrading because he doesn't WANT to. That is not a legitimate complaint.

That sounds about like the express payrate. They also were making bank with the gswc thing.

Im gonna have to guess you disagree that the union somehow dropped a ball? Which ball havent they dropped? No reason for a longwinded history lesson.