Delta Training Crash Pad
 

Looking for advice on best options for a crash pad and/or inexpensive living options while going through sim training in ATL. I'll have my car with me so I'm considering all locations.

Thanks in advance!

MCFlyer

Pads around 200-250 per month and rooms around 40 per night. Positive space home every 2+ day break so you could buddy up for around 20 a night each for 5 days a week and have more privacy for around 400 for the month-ish long post indoc footprint, or totally splurge and spend 800 for your own room.

My advice would be to put yourself first. Everyone is on a budget and first year pay, while actually very good compared to most, is still a pay cut more often than not. But stressing over a few hundred bucks at the front end of a career likely worth well into the millions is something IMO you shouldn't revert to "cheap pilot mode" for unless you're literally a couple paychecks away from losing it (which in most cases is another story entirely).

Good advice. Putting yourself in a good comfortable environment can be much better for studying as well depending on the individual.

Delta doesn't pay for lodging during training?

Delta pays for the hotel for the 9 days of Indoc but not for the subsequent ~4 weeks of sim training.

I had to make the choice a few months back. It's either spend approx 1.5 to 2 grand on a hotel or find a nice crashpad. I brought my car down and found a nice crashpad for $400. It was a little pricey but I got the basement of a nice house with a private entrance. I also figured that for the 2k I could have spent I would get a nice, quiet pad for 4/5 months while on reserve (after that I should have a line). I think the only problem is with the hotel you are close to the training center so there is potential for more time to study.

Chris

I put myself first and have no regrets spending 1700.00 on a room. The training is at a fast pace and getting good rest and study time in each day is a must.

shared a 4 bedroom house with 2 other guys in my new hire class. Just us 3 with one room empty for $600 per room . Pm me if interested

Wow. I'm surprised I hadn't heard of this. How could you guys allow this to be in your contract? We are talking about THE Delta airlines right? Not some regional? Hell, even most regionals give you a hotel room.

You do realize we're talking about pilots here?

Good thing there were record profits. I think even go jets gives you a double occupancy room.

Delta has never paid for hotel rooms for training outside of OpSpecs class for new hires. The only exception is for offsite training. Get sent to one of those, you get a room.

This is nothing new. Would think that this would be something hopefuls would know of.

I'm not a hopeful. Just because it always has been doesn't mean it should always be. But that's how this industry works I guess. Instead of remembering how bad it sucked to shell out all that money, the more senior guys have the "gotta pay your dues" attitude.

You guys need to fix that. Just for reference, I stayed in a suite with a full kitchen in my new hire training. Including the sim portion.

Residence Inn adjacent to the training center
- 5min walk (no shuttle required)
- breakfast 7 days/week
- dinner 4 days/week + beer
- 2 bed/ 2 bath / kitchen avail (perfect for a roommate)

worth every penny!

What's the delta rate there? At residence?

May I ask what the rest of your compensation package consists of? :cool:

www.airbnb.com

craigslist.com


Got a house for $700 for a month. Split it with my class mate. The house is owned by a retired DAL guy.

Old house, but nice. .9 mi from training center. I have a car... class mate walks when needed.

We like it.

I did know about this was making a comment because I think that when you hit the big time you should have hotel paid during training. I do not like well it has always been this way because one could say well in the past one always had a pension. Point is things change and I would think that the union would try to help those in training out since they are lower pay then the rest. Do you guys get hotels for recurrent? Sorry if it seems like I am attacking Delta that is not my intention. It is just strange to me that something so simple would be left out of the contract.

At least you don't have to pay for a $10K type rating as part of your employment.

The lack of a hotel at training raised my eyebrows initially also, as JetBlue provided a hotel during our entire training program.

But JB pays $2500/mo during training, while DAL pays $3750/mo (coincidentally, that's first year FO pay at B6) and also provides positive space back home during breaks. That's about an extra $60/night to put towards 20 nights in ATL.

That's something we're working on. We just took a big step on Tuesday. When we see something that's not right we admit to it and try to fix it.

It was a long time ago, but as I recall, NWA did not pay for lodging for any part of initial training. Someone will correct me if I am wrong.

Maddog,

Your memory is correct. I don't understand the angst. It wasn't that big of a deal. Find a furnished place, split is with 2-3 classmates and you are out a whopping 500-600 bucks while being paid 3750(it was 1800 when Ferd, NewK and myself went thru).

To the posters wondering why it is not in the contract. All items have a cost(piece of the pie so to speak). If we negotiated paid hotels during new hire training it would have come from some other place in the contract. What about when the company is not hiring for years? Yep, some other part of the contract gets shorted.

Your point about all items having a cost is spot on especially about the years there was no hiring. ($1500 a month for me but that was Jan. of 85)

Great discussion Gentlemen on the history of new hire pay and the impact of the contract if the cost were to be included. ;)

If anyone with additional information on crash pad options would care to share their knowledge with the crowd, I, along with hundreds, maybe even thousands of current and future new hires will definitely appreciate your input. :D

Thanks to all for the info provided!

-MCFlyer

Yes, we get hotel rooms for CQ, even Atlanta based guys. Also get a room for initial on new equipment, even if you live in Atlanta. You can decline it if you want.

Is it something we should fix? Sure, but there are more important, pressing issues that need to be dealt with first, which have a far greater impact on lifetime earnings than what a NH had to pay for a room during initial. There is only so much negotiating capital available. Even newbs would prefer better work rules and hourly pay over their career rather than a paid room for 15-20 days.
Saving $600-1000 but costing you several hundred of thousands down the road isn't smart.

This is very true. I do understand why it is not there I just thought it was weird. I only hope I have to deal with this issue. With the record profits you guys are getting I look forward to your guys next contract. Of course I hope I will be apart of that but I would have to win the lottery outside of the SSP.

I'm sure we could trade that for $25/hr and maybe no insurance for 6 months if we really wanted to.

I agree that the company should spring for it though. I actually think its the right thing to do to even provide a room for the interview as well as buy the the initial uniform. And one day most or all of that will likely be standard.

But for now you'll unfortunately just have to settle for one of the best first year pay rates, one of the highest pay scales over all, rapid advancement and a diverse choice of planes and bases.

Baby steps I guess. :cool:

Whoa, slow your roll there hoss.

Do a search of first year pay and get back to us. DL is among the best and that was something negotiated into the contract by everyone.

FWIW I'm in favor of providing rooms for new hires and I think we will one day (probably sooner than later but who knows). I'm also in favor of completely eliminating the "first year pay" mini-B scale at every airline industry wide as all it does is weaken us in the long run by amplifying the already large hit you have to take whenever "starting over" thereby putting most pilots into a "can't say no" to whatever propaganda an airline's anti-labor law firm (and they all use the same ones) claim is their "last final offer" or whatever the implied threat ends up being. IMO first year pay should only be a standard 2-3% "step" below second, which should be a step below 3rd, etc. Whatever "negotiating capital" a pilot group wins in the short term for having a much lower "first year pay" they more than lose in the long run through pattern bargaining, but now we're getting a bit more cerebral with this than most posters likely intended.

Anyway some places that provide hotel rooms for new hire training more than make it up in lower pay and benefits. A (very) few out there are net first year wins ahead of DL. I'm in favor of making things better for new hire pilots, partially out of empathy and altruism but mostly because I think it benefits us all in the long run. Its also a built in way the company can essentially raise compensation without actually changing the PWA. If we can keep the hiring/retiring trend vectors where they are headed, I suspect they will do it all on their own though.

Please don't encourage him G...it kills brain cells. Besides, the image of two Canadian commuter pilots sleeping together is gonna require some scotch to delete. Cheers H

There WAS a time when that would have been a VERY valid argument. But not anymore, as of a little over a year ago.

Agree. DAL has ALWAYS had some of the highest first year pay, along with FedEx.

And using first year pay as "metric" as well ALL know is a completely stupid way to compare airlines. Because we ALL know that it's about more than just that hourly rate. But if one was to use a first year W2/overall earnings/money in the bank, DAL probably wouldn't come out on top in many cases. I SAY AGAIN, I WOULDN'T USE THAT AS A MEASURE OF WHAT AIRLINE IS BETTER.

As an example, a UAL new hire is slightly less. But for the training cycle, is paid monthly guaranty PLUS a bump, plus per-diem. Very little (if any) money out of pocket for the full training cycle. A SW new hire could probably do better as well.

Basically, I'm just expanding on your points below.......

But you will ALWAYS have those that suffer from senioritis//back in my day/I had to do it SO SHOULD YOU mentality.

I miss Carl.

fwiw, I'd rather have uniform reimbursment (for all pilots, for the entire length of empl) than NH hotels.

Crashpad ran $350. No biggie. I know some people sprung the $1500-1600 for a hotel... but a nice house did me fine.

As many have stated, NH hotels are a negotiated cost. Knowing the DL hotel rate, NH hotels would cost DL a million dollars a year +/- a couple 100k based on hiring.

A million bucks per year.... negotiated into some QOL issues or pay.... seems like more bang for the buck.

That is today. Give it five years, who knows what the contract will look like.

I agree with everything you said above.

For the record I was only commenting on the fact that Delta doesn't pay for a hotel in training. I made no comments as to first year pay or any other parts of your contract. The Delta contract is envied by us all. This part of it however, came as a big surprise to me.

I agree with Gloopy, and I agree with you. It's simply one of those things of with ALL THE GOOD THINGS and DAL, that one is simply a bit of a head scratcher, that's all.

Norwegian Long Haul pays for their pilots hotel for all of initial training ;)



TP

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Most regionals don't pay during training either, but Delta does.

They don't?

We got to fix this.
New hires have enough stress going through the initial training being on probation.
Welcome to all new hires! Power through and don't let it under your skin. Let's make this place better!