I didn't do any bargaining so I'm happy with my $ (let's not forget it equates to $61/flight hour for a 4 year FO based on a 75 hour/month schedule). I think what happened is pilots were jumping ship at an alarming enough rate to Delta.

 

It was those jumping ship to PSA that got us this bonus, i believe.

 

You bargained for it already. When you took voted for concessions. Eliminate a good contract for 3000 pilots. + Bounus for 1500 pilots. = Delta profits!

 

Nope. Didn't vote for concessions. I'll admit the vast majority of my fellow FOs and other captains thought me making $35,000/year was too much and I needed to make concessions but I most certainly was not of the opinion and voted accordingly.

 

Same here. Good for you.

 

There were a lot of FO's that voted yes because they already had one foot out the door and was offered "bribe money" a.k.a. longevity transition payout. I heard from several "might as well vote yes and get the $4000. I'm leaving next month either way."

 

A lot of people also voted yes because if it got voted down, there was a real risk of the company getting the same contract (minus the bonus and SSP) implemented by the judge.

 

#1, I don't buy that. I don't think the company really wanted to cut that much. This was their opening and we jumped at it. I think it actually surprised them we took it.
#2, so the judge imposes, and we walk (ok let's face it, this group didn't have that much spine) so at least upon exiting bankruptcy, we reopen negotiations to fix some of that mess.

Instead we spread our own cheeks willingly. Eventually that has blown up in the company's face as well. Look at last fall's resignation numbers and the money thrown at everyone to slow that down. Unfortunately the SSP has been a failure (sure we are up to about 50% overall hiring rates) but that is a far cry from what ALPA sold this deal to be.

 

How can you say the SSP is a failure? Do you honestly think that even a fraction of the guys hired would have even got off the street interviews this early in DL's hiring wave without it? Agreed that it's not what the mustache sold us, but it's far from a failure.

 

It's a failure because there were a lot of yes votes bought with the sales job that the SSP would be basically what PSA has. Walk in, shake hands, say "yes I want to work here", and get your new hire paperwork. That is not at all what we have. So half this pilot group basically got sold a bag of used baseballs. Yes it's great (minus the year + waiting to actually get a class date) for about half. The other half got yet another screwing out of this contract. Take away the longevity payout and the SSP and then redo the vote and see what the results would have been. The payout was less than one year's lost pay and the SSP didn't cost much if anything for the company to give, at first. The failure of the SSP is because of how poor the numbers were, it gave FO's no reason to stay here and wait their turn. This caused the mass exodus last year. That required the company (Delta) to pony up $20K per pilot to keep this place from fully imploding. Had they gotten their hiring department under control and did what was sold to this group, many FO's would not have jumped ship, but waited their turn as senior guys moved on. That didn't happen of course and the rest is now history.