Delta and Alaska
 

Any credence to the merger rumor? I got a class date with Delta and was wondering if this merger goes through the junior Delta guys will be on the wrong end of the deal.

Thoughts?

Seriously?

Like very.

The larger carrier always wins. Always. The arbitrators want to work again.

Win or lose it won't affect you as a new hire.

Was it that way with NW and Republic or USAIR and America West?

Any idea how long it takes to hold Seattle?

Leavin UPS Bro?

Thought that place was da bomb.

stink bomb, maybe.

Ain't happening. Too much competition now out of Seattle.

Probably not too long to hold Seattle once the 73n category opens and gets up to speed. I'd guess first year.

Denny

That's not bad. I guess I could put up the commute to ATL or JFK until Seattle opens up. This will be a dream gig.

Fingers crossed.

Out of curiosity, are you really at UPS bailing for D?

There are some extremely jr folks who just got SEA on last AE (for ref, Im pretty dang jr and guys way below me got it).

The pending retirements at Big D is hard to pass up! In a few months I could have more people below me than nearly 10 years at Small time Brown.

Retirement numbers or retirement plans?

I dont know diff between either

Won't happen. DAL can just add generic flights a put AS out to pasture. In that scenario, you'll see AS merge with SWA or AA.

There is an air of excitement that they will be wearing double-breasted soon.

Additionally, I've been told that C15 negotiations have language designating SEA as a dal hub. That immediately locks AK out of codeshare with us.

The only rumors I might really pay attention to are ones coming from guys sitting in class (at either airline) and say the CEO or CFO or some other person along those levels says a merger is a good possibility. If it's a cockpit rumor, no. If it's a FA rumor then still no, those are no better than pilot rumors.

If its an internet rumor, run with it. Those are gold.

So what's the rumor source?

Recently, I was in one of those classes. The higher up big shots said (paraphrase) NO Alaska Merger! Or any other mergers.

That was as of a couple weeks or so ago :D Things can change.

TEN

Van drivers, of course.

Higher ups in the last few weeks say NO MERGERS~

Time to watchout:eek:

That would be sweet. Also might explain the added 73 and 717 presence out here.

Heard from a friend who started with Delta recently that a big wig spoke to his class and said it was not DAL's intention to merge with Alaska nor run it out of business. Both airlines can coexist peacefully in SEA.

Also, supposedly American has already overtaken DAL as Alaska's biggest code share partner, so the whole situation may have unintended consequences for DAL. Reference American into Mexico City and AS into JFK.

Speaking of "unintended consequences," what's the latest about Horizon flying 100 seaters for Alaska?

Well then.

http://images2.fanpop.com/image/phot...14-465-349.jpg

Me: "Kowalski, what's the probability now of us merging?"

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2..._scientist.png

Kowalski: "Skippper, if big wigs say it ain't happening, then F15Crickett should prepare for Delta Indoc in Atlanta in 2017. And when they offer you either NYC88B or invite you to go on the canoe trip in north Georgia, just know, the banjo music means you'll be slightly less screwed."

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/...path-prefix=pl



--------------------------
I'm on week 10 of a Penguins of Madagascar on Nickelodeon binge.

For Alaskan Air Lines independence that is probably the best case scenario. Codeshare with AA more heavily, DAL will compete head-to-head, little to no chance that AA would even seek a merger and little chance of either getting government approval.

Good for you guys.

I'm running for CEO. Anyone else? CEO1, CEO2, CEO3.......

I love that Cricket is advocating for the ME3 in the other thread (they have no top end scope), and AS has no low end scope either as you so astutely pointed out.

He might be well informed to change his positions of advocacy if he'd like to remain flying the 'mo around...

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be happy w/ your new found Love for AA. They will be your new Godfather and give you all the new routes you could imagine. It's a match made in Heaven!!!

Baja.

Cricket doesn't understand scope yet.....he will.

:eek::eek:

Thank God! You can have Parker, enjoy.

TEN

80KC, I thought you were smarter than this ...

On the other thread, asking people to intellectually defend a position, and then pushing back when they respond with racial slurs or unsupportable points is not in the same league as "advocating for." I remain undecided on that issue.

As for scope, sure we have issues ... But, Buzz, just wondering how do y'all like the Air France JV ... And Virgin Atlantic? ... And aren't SKW and Compass doing a lot of DAL's expanded SEA flying? Sounds like your scope is airtight... :rolleyes:

Delta is replacing Compass on routes they had Compass start on. These new routes will be taken over by Delta in due time. The regionals will only be shrinking in the near future and Delta will grow.

Detla will grow
 

True Dat. Delta is/has acquiring 11 more 717s. 4 from some Uzbekistan airways or something and 8 others from some Asian carrier. All this is unannounced of course. But hey it is more mainline airframes.

I know you are new to the industry and I suspect your knowledge of Delta scope is limited to what you read here. Clearly however you understand that network is important. The scope Delta has with AK/KLM is serving us well. We fly 55% of the alliance flights with AF/KLM flying 45%. We are adding UK flying with the JV inked with virgin. Currently Delta pilots fly more flights across the pond then any other airline.
On the domestic side the scope changes have required the company to shift large blocks of flying back to the mainline. We are hiring 130 pilots a month for that reason. Anytime Delta puts a RJ into SEA they have to replace that flight with a mainline flight somewhere else. They can't add RJ flying and in fact have to shrink it. Alaska was the glaring hole in our domestic scope. Delta management wanted to expand that relationship but Alaska did not want to give Delta the priority they needed for international feed. Both sides made business choices they feel are for the best. It certainly is turning out well for the Delta pilot group. We have more then doubled the size of the SEA base since 08 and it will be triple the size this time next year.
The problem you have at Alaska which most of your pilots fully recognize is that you have scoped one aircraft type and have very little protection otherwise. If Alaska decides to buy a 140 seat C series they can put it up for bid. Your going to have to beat Horizon, Skywest and Republic in a auction. That hurts the entire industry because it's almost certainly going to result in a B scale if you retain the flying. We all hope that does not happen because it drags the entire industry down. Those of us who have been here a few years have seen all this before. At Delta we once had to make a choice to lower our block hour cots on the 737-200 to SWA levels or lose the flying to Comair.
Many of your pilots advocated hard for real scope in your last contact. Time will tell how things turn out. Perhaps Alaska management will be very benevelant and things will go well. Let's hope so!

IMHO, I believe that any merger between DAL and AS is likely not going to happen because of the current overlap in route structure. I'm not sure that it would be approved by the Judiciary Commitee. It's been increasingly more difficult for each carrier's merger petition (NWA-DAL, CAL-UAL, AMR-USA).

I agree, and the 30 year fences keeping AS pilots on the 737 and smaller would only cause pain.

Guys, I think all f15 was saying was the rumors are that dal and alaska well just coexist in sea and that instead of the two moving towards each other they're moving further apart as AA is becoming the larger partner. So the chances dal and alaska will jump in bed are low.


we are basically friends with limited benefits, "merging" isn't one of those benefits. More of a escort without the fun.

Say what? It looks like DAL mainline has the least overseas flights of the big 3. Only 145 widebodies compared to UAs 220+ and AA even more than that. Plus AA and UA fly quite a few narrowbodies across the pond as well (not that pilots or pax enjoy it).

There, FYP ;)

He might be talking about SEA. I think I read that DL has more long haul international flights out of SEA than all of the other carriers combined.