BobZ

Butter? No.
Fried eggs? You betcha.

FangsF15

Huh? How’s that? Seems to me if there is nothing available to BID, seniority has nothing to do with it? Serious question, maybe I’m confused on what you are saying.

saturn

Honest inquiry: does DL have the worst "filling of vacancies/AE" QOL in the industry? Can anybody with perspective elsewhere chime in?

It's really hard and slow to move around in this company. From the time you decide you want to move bases/equipment, to actually flying your first trip can take a long time. During that time you have no say in your conversion process outside of "I'll convert last", which is non specific. An award can be a pretty long term commitment, which makes the decision to move a lot more impactful since so much can change after that initial award. This alone affects the dynamics of how people bid. The seat locks, AE frequency, conversion window length, zero ability to bid specific or pref training dates, training pay, QOL in training, lack of base changing/swapping.. is there a peer airline with less flexibility in staffing?

crewdawg

It really wasn't all that bad until a few years ago. For a few years prior to that, it was pretty nice. We were having bids every 5-6 weeks and lots of moving around. These year long bids, cancellations of trainings and lack of planning is pretty bad. Them constantly working their AE so that a bunch of guys are still in their seat locks, while I get it from the company stand point, is pretty crappy. It is funny to watch them scratch their heads when we don't bid like they expect. Kinda like how they were surprised that a bunch of guys didn't bid off DTW330B. Well...you really didn't give them anywhere to go, so of course they're not gonna leave such an awesome gig to go be a junior 717A.

When I was at AAL, they had monthly bids, which was pretty nice. Before you even bid, you knew what month you'd convert to your new base and/or equipment. I think they've lost that and are now down to a minimum of 4 bids/yr, and I'm not sure how high of fidelity they on training dates these days.

FedEx guys may train anytime in the 2 years following their AE. That doesn't sound all that great either.

TED74

Are they pay protected prior to starting training so delayed?

Iceberg

Not a fan of the popped yolk running out. I’m gonna stick with the butter. Or just throw in bacon.

gloopy

Oh come on now.

And you had to sit short call 365 days a year uphill both ways.

It isn't, nor should it be, an aviation opus dei suffering contest.

If there was no hiring for years and the economy sucked and someone got in just as the door closed and was complaining about not being able to write their own ticket or whatever then sure, smack them down to reality.

But in the current context of unfathomable profits, hiring and a in a growing fleet in a junior base (assumed NYC) being "trapped" simply because of the near unlimited "flexibility" provided to the company with our abysmal AE process is something justified to complain about. Regardless of seniority or longevity.

gloopy

Yeah but at least the lounge smelled like rats.

gloopy

Maybe. But will it be guaranteed non commutable on all ends with orphaned days off inbetween?

Baradium

So it's not just that you couldn't go to ATL, but that you couldn't go to ATL in a specific aircraft and seat? That's a pretty specific complaint.

Sounds like there will be a fair number of 88 positions open coming up in ATL though, so you can rest easier.