Who whizzed in my wheaties? same guys who are taking 1.95% of my income and using it for purposes wholly contrary to my best interests.

Question is, why are you eating your whizzed-on wheaties and smiling?

Being that you are so special, I have decided finally to change my avatar just for you... and slow too.

Look for me around the terminals, crew van, lounges, and hotel as you see I actually wear this pin that DALPA sent to me back in 2005.

Yes, that is right. The pin that DALPA sent me in 2005 when they actually took a stand on restoration for a time. I don't know what happened since then.

I respect your dream to be a 7ER A some day. I also want you to be able to achieve that and be compensated enough not to have to have a plan b job unless it is for fun.

However, that will not happen if we are:

* Not unified as a group.

* Not effectively led as a group.

* Are constantly having our expectations managed down... from within our own ranks.



That is why the name "TheManager".

I can't stand to see the pilots expectations managed down by DALPA and and ALPA. I expect that from the company and Wall Street.

We actually have so much leverage to use to attain what is FAIR for our group that we can achieve any reasonable goal we set. We can do this despite AMR's unfortunate c11.

We can do this if we are unified, have effective leadership that listens to us, reponds to our wants and needs, and thinks creatively. Everyone: Remember this.

Every battle is won, before it is ever fought. -Sun Tzu

It was true 2,500 years ago and still is today and will be tomorrow.

We need pilots that understand this, are unified, and leadership that embraces this concept. We can not have leadsership that is evasive to our resolutions, is frequently obliquitous, and appears to be managing our expectations in the wrong direction.

I am not out of airspeed and ideas. I have lots of them. So do 12,000 other professional aviators here. Collectively we are an intelligent, savy group of people. We need our current representatives to start listening, communicating, engaging and strategizing. They need to lead. Our leadership does not appear that way or why would we all be facing this devisive DPA drive?

Again. We do have the leverage. It will not work if we are not all in it together.


Oh and for personal insults?? I don't believe I used any.

Personal. Yes. I'll call anyone out if there is a bs statement or more "managing epectations."

Insults. No.

Not like your buddy refering to eighty eight driver as a troll and personally accusing him of undercutting the profession. I sure hope that was not a reference to anyone having worked at another airline prior to establishing themselves at Delta, would it??

Really! From of all people you slow!

What a statement. The one thing I agree with is your statement by Sun Tzu. Why don't you read the whole book and find out the rest of his theory. What Sun Tzu said was that you need to know more than your enemy and you need to understand both the shape of the battlefield and the shape of your enemy. That takes study and thought. Not fantasy, but real work.

How do I know exactly what long term debt American has and Carl has to read some stupid number out of the Fort Worth Star Telegram. I have no special talents beyond the average Delta pilot. I take the time to read financial statements, I take the time to listen to company webcasts all of them not just Delta, I take the time to study the industry and not just read the dreck on Motley Fool and Seeking Alpha or in the general business press. I merely went to Edgar, pulled up the last quarterly statement from American and read the number. It took me about a minute.

Not only that but I helped take the time to try to educate my fellow pilots about how to read these documents and what the underlying information means. This is studying the battlefield and knowing the enemy. If the average Delta pilot takes the time to read and understand these documents then they will have a better understanding of their negotiations than most union leaders in most other labor groups. Here is what is funny, we write a paper to show Carl exactly how to read what a company's long term debt is and he whines about how his expectations are being managed. Then when he tries to pontificate about debt at American, he can't even find out the real number. Irony at its best.

You call it managing expectations down because you don't want to take the time and energy to understand the reality of the situation you want to complain and moan until the rest of the world accepts your reality. A reality that only exists in your mind. That tactic has been tried at numerous carriers over the last few years and the result is doodly squat. But hey, let's ignore reality and create our own little world.

What blows my mind is that there are perfect examples for you to study out there on how to get steam rollered by the other side and yet you keep looking the guys that have gotten their butts kicked and continue to say "hey let's be like them." Why should we continue the tactics that have produced the best results over the last five years when we can copy the guys that have gotten nothing. Excellent plan.

So I am sorry if actually studying the real battlefield and the real enemy gets in the way of your fantasy world. You quote Sun Tzu and then you ignore everything he says about strategy and tactics. Read the whole book. I have read it at least four times. Study the industry. Quit complaining from behind a keyboard. Do some work. If the pilot group needs more communication then join P2P and sit your butt in the lounge on your off days and find out what people are saying. Pass the info up to Steve Rose or Munster and the MEC will get it. I am not sure you want that. Maybe you don't want to hear what the pilots want, you want everyone else to think just like you.

If you really have creative ideas then let us know. In general, when I hear "you need to think outside the box" it shows a person out of airspeed and ideas and running on testosterone. You claim to have a magical formula where we can get everything we want easily. Let's have it.

So Mr. Manager, our white knight who is managing expectations upward, get off the couch and let us know your creative ideas. You talk about unity and yet you do nothing but sit behind a keyboard and throw rocks at people that are working on your behalf. What a convenient a job. You talk about how everyone else has a duty to create unity, what about you? What are you doing? Oh, I see, you are monitoring from a distance and calling people out.

So I will call you out, until you start doing something then you are just full of bs.

Sorry it has taken me a day to respond. Have been doing the Dad thing with my daughers and my wife. You know how it gets- volleyball practices, Christmas tree and present shopping, putting up lights, homework, Costco and Home Depot runs. Then when we finished all of that, my wife and I rewarded ourselves with a night on the couch and a copy of the newly released 'Hangover 2.'

Best line, "Whats this... a magic show?" See it.

I degress. Wow. I never have seen so many arrogant assumptions and such animated diatribe in a post as contained in the one above.

However, it is no surprise that it comes from you. Lets get right to the salient point. The sad truth is Alfa that people here:

* associate you directly with DALPA.

Your post contains one of the basic and common DALPA responses. Admit nothing, deny everything, make counter-accusations and attack the messenger. It is not a surprise as it follows the logic of DALPA's top down, non communicative nature in pursuit of their own brazen self interests.

This is exactly why we face a competing organization on the property, one that has garnered the support of over 1/3rd of the pilots. I suggest that you carefully re-read my post, and then particularly your response, if you have any questions as to why this alternative group is seeking to represent the fine aviators of Delta Air Lines.

In order for the pilots to attain a fair and aquitable contract for their families and themselves, they must be unified. Presently, the group is fractured among competing interests. One is going to have to emerge and lead this group effectively. It can be done. It must be done.

Right now, it is DALPA's contest to either win or lose. Presently, DALPA, or to be completely accurate, the commitee structure and leadership, is struggling.

They are driven only by their brazen self interests in pursuit of political survival. They are struggling to perserve that authority. They can not lead and unify if they are only interested in their regime. Introspective thought and change is needed.

This is important:

DALPA and DAL have close relationship that contain rewards. Kind of like rewards that governments provide to other governments. All aid money is dispersed not to alleviate poverty, but to purchase loyalty and influence.

Think about that. Now we all know why FPL is such a third rail political issue. We can not succeed if we are not unifed or have effective leadership. We can not be unifed or led when there is question as to the loyalty and influence of our leadership.

I'd rather pay more dues money and cover FPL (with a monthly accounting) than have DAL in the equation. Think of the impact a change like this would have.

Finally, remember this. Information infrastructure is politics.

The best way to bring down a corrupt dictator or regime... hand out cell phones. Folks, it works the same way here. whoever has the higher ground has the advantage.

Why do you think AMR went public on their websites and in the press with their disengenious proposal to their pilots? Why do you think Alfa and DALPA are here?

Couldn't agree more. Every word.

How we resolve this broken structure will literally determine our futures.

Carl

O.K, what are the rewards that purchase loyalty? Is it payments that are discretionary or contractually required

We had 24J during C2K and for decades prior to C2K, are you insinuating that our leadership was corrupted by 24J during C2K and their loyalty was purchased?

Didn't NWA get about $1M from NWA each year to help finance union activities, was NALPA bought and paid for by that money?

I'm interested in knowing DPA's official position on 24J. Will DPA drop 24J from our contract? What is DPA's position on this? Please no second hand opinion on it, but an actual quote with supporting link would be nice.

If DPA is going to be stupid about our finances and drop 24J then I don't want anything to do with them and am glad I haven't mailed in a card. I mean, really, a start up with no funding, this close to section 6 and they are going to say no to contractually required funding. That seems dumb to me. My pay check says Delta on it, but my loyalty 's not purchased by my pay check, my pay check is a contractual requirement.

If the TA is weak it ought to be voted down. Whether we get another agent or not depends on whether the other agent can guarantee, with some sense of assurance (I don't just want lip service) that they have the ability to do better.

I want the best representation possible for Delta pilots, but I'm not blindly going to follow someone who makes promises, but hasn't demonstrate an ability to deliver. That's where I get stuck on DPA, I hear a lot of rhetoric, but I haven't seen anything real. They have a committee structure, but we don't know who these folks are and whether they have the background or ability to deliver. To me they are just names on a board.

Why doesn't DPA open a town hall forum where we can all interview their committee structure, a forum where any Delta pilot can question them, not just guys who have already sent in a card. If you have an employee number, you can log on without being put on an e-mail list for future sales pitches. If they want my card they'll have to earn it, not by attacking ALPA, but by proving that they have a better product that can produce better results. To date I haven't seen that.

Feel free to smarten up and better yourself as well as QOL for all DAL pilots here: Delta Pilots Association

Thanks, I've seen their website, but I am not sold for reasons I've mentioned on another post.

I had a question about DPA's position on 24J and whether they would accept that contractually required funding, I have not found the answer to that question on the website, if it's there, then please post it and where I can find the answer on their website.

4046

Just sayin....