I disagree. I think there have to be at least some short term fences. If management decides to park all the DC-9s, I don't think any Delta pilots should be furloughed or even bumped out of their seats or out of their base. Conversly if they park 88s, I don't think any NWA pilots should be bumped out of their seats or out of their base.

The problem with the idea that people can keep thier seats is that management is going to move airplanes around. There is no such thing as no bump no flush when fleets start to move around the system. I think we need fences long enough to keep everyone on thier respective fleet until the aircraft movement among bases is complete.

It's more than a shot across the bow. DAL is currently shopping for airplanes on many fronts. Airbus is courting DAL like a southern debutante trying to give us airplanes to shoot down the 787 until its own A350 is online. They are willing to sell the A330 at firesale prices. DAL is leveraging our position to the extent that Boeing is worried about our order and trying to find a way to recoup. That means 777-300, position for the 787-9, and a few 777-200LR's. There are so many things going on in ATl and MSP with so many groupings of people that it looks like a world championship pictionary tournament at both headquarters with meeting after meeting and focus group after focus group.

I do not think that you will see that.

I also think that if anyone furloughs both sides will feel it. (One big family, remember....)

I know. It is kind of fun to watch. Some of deals are done, some are not.

Here's a wild rumor I heard. Real cheap 767-400s might become available because Boeing wants to keep the line running in the hopes they might still get a KC767 tanker contract from the Air Force.
I thought Airbus won that tanker contract?

Boeing appealed the decision and won. They basically claimed that the Air Force didn't follow their own criteria they laid out in the request for bids. So, we are pretty much back to square one on the whole tanker deal.

I didn't know that. I guess maybe the 767 rumor has some credibility. It was an old Air Force buddy who told me about it. I could see Delta buying some brand new 767s if the price was right.

It is a good rumor, and one that has been floated around.

Guys are also worried the the 7ER base in CVG give the company greater flexibility in furloughing from the ER in NYC. (This one is possible, but not probable)

furlough out? Did you mean displace out?

No, I meant that having a new senior ER base in CVG would reduce the costs associated with training pilots that are currently on the ER.
Without this new base it would require a tremendous amount of training to do so. *Displace or furlough. With this new base, they literally could hit the street with out a massive displacement first. See many of the junior ER pilots in NYC are late 07 and 08 hires.
(Someone pointed this out on our DALPA board, and I admit that it makes sense, in a scheming backhanded sort of way. There is not talk about it as far as I know. To me it seemed like a very plausable reason to make CVG an ER base, that is all. Read nothing in to it, except that someone had a different way at looking at this new base. I am not inferring anything)
It truly made my mouth drop when I read it. I was like, damn that is tricky.