I'm holding the same pin in my hands right now and it was issued during the run-up to C2K, not post-bankruptcy. The 'Restoration' was in reference to the '96 contract.

 

Well... look who's back....

 

Current DAL manning for summer of 2013 at an ALV of 84 would have us "overmanned" by 400 Pilots. ALV will not be that high.

Summer 2014 would have us undermanned by 300. Hiring is around the corner felllas, the only question is how long until we turn the corner?

Scoop

 

George,

An excellent post!

You're a pretty well-informed guy and I'm guessing you saw the email that circulated last fall from an AA First Officer...

(For those who didn't read it: This First Officer, and the Captain he was flying with, did everything required by their job, but not one iota more. This email detailed how rapidly dysfunctional the operation became when pilots didn't step up and do what's necessary to keep things flowing. It was hugely ugly.)

When I read that email I thought of Delta's own operation and of all the things we do, on a daily basis, to keep the operation flowing relatively smoothly and mostly on time.

I firmly believe Delta management is blissfully unaware of all that we do. We sure as h*ll don't get thanked for it (much less compensated).

As far as this: "Operational Excellence memo wants us to stop "masking" the problems and let the data speak." My response would be: "Really?"

In theory maintenance write-ups should occur with equal frequency on flights from a hub to an out-station as on the return flights. Yet I'd bet a bunch of money (and I'm not a betting man) that the difference is staggering.

Do they really want us to write up discrepancies where they happen and highlight the gaping holes in maintenance coverage?

 

How did you come up with that, or more appropriately, what's the source of the info?

 

So will DL's new 14 hour international short call all be duty, or will those 14 hours, like now, be exempt from duty and the only duty counting will be the duty of the trip you get, even if its 1 minute prior to your 14 hour window?

 

Somewhere on the 4th floor, someone just read that and said:

 

Especially when much of what is "masked" couldn't be prevented by any program (short of complete aircraft inspection at every station with full spare parts invetory) at any cost with any MX system.

IMO this is 10% inquisitive in nature trying to get to the bottom of some key delay metrics and 90% about permanantly reducing block hours for the same amount of flights flown. I'm sure someone knows the number of pilot jobs we gain/lose for every minute per flight of more or less block hours. They mentioned an average 5 minute latency reduction target. How many pilot block hours does that equate to? How many pilot jobs does that equate to? That's what this is about. We will shrink as a result of this, probably by several hundred pilots when its all said and done, all things being equal.

Even if we never learn a thing about the operation doing this, the worst thing that will happen is D-0 takes a hit but A-14 (infinitely more important) remains about the same and at the end of the day we've eliminated probably at least a couple hundred pilot jobs. If we unearth a little nugget here or there (like jetway movement with 1 chock set instead of 3, etc) then great, but gate latency is merely the rebranding of the age old "wheel spin up" fantasy 'legislate by memo' for pilot pay and out times that pilot groups have been fighting off for many years all over the industry.

 

Memo from Ken S. is going to build pilot unity. Read and enjoy. All these plans have proven to work in a most excellent manner in the cubicle.

 

Laser printed flt plans in mid May! Yeah