SLC-NRT tentatively starts 03 Jun 2009, that leaves about six months for approval by DL, ALPA, the FAA and the retrofit and rewrite of the contract. Sounds like a long time, but it is not when you are dealing with the FAA and negotiating with the union. I still maintain NOW is the time to get what we want, rather than wait to see what kind of crap management wants to install. Waiting will get us into the - "We need a deal now to start this route authority." threat from management. Maybe it is different at DL, but there are a ton of old NW management types coming over in the merger. Those are the ones that will ask for CONCESSIONS accompanied by the above panic/threat.

For the (former) NWA pilots, DAL's management's history of providing crew rest facilities is less than optimal.

I don't remember the whole story, but back when DAL operated the MD-11 the crew rest facility on flights over 12 hours was lame, to say the least. Many pilots complained about it.

A Captain who was somewhat legendary as a good (and outspoken) guy was on a flight to Asia (don't remember the destination) from ATL and decided to divert to (I think) PDX as they weren't able to get satisfactory rest in the crew rest facility.

The company went ballistic and the story made the Wall Street Journal. ALPA totally won the PR campaign with the public.

IIRC the crew rest facility was "built" after takeoff and stowed before landing...all in view of the passengers. ALPA described it in the WSJ as something like "...imagine the three stooges trying to put up a tent...".

It really was pretty funny.

I hope someone corrects any (and all) mistakes I made in the re-telling.

Wasatch,

The MD11 crew rest facility started out with a facility called the "Condo," I saw it and it looked pretty nice. I was on the 11 after that with the facility that was called "the coffin" and that is exactly what the bottom bunk was. The upper was not much better, it just had a higher ceiling that curved up along the side of the acft. (Not a good feeling if you are claustrophobic!)

It was located right behind the cockpit on the leftside. You are right, it had to be stowed for takeoff and at top of descent because it blocked the 1L door. It was certainly a pain in the arse. At least we did have one business class seat reserved.

My description of it would be "marginally adequate."

Denny

Fight's on. NW has officially scheduled an A330 on LAX-NRT starting 29Mar

For a 747-400 its blocked at 11:40 at .85-.86M

They are showing a block time of 11:55 for the A330 to avoid having a 4 pilot augment crew.

11:55 at .82? I don't think so...

There is a mod that USAir just got on their A330/200's, however it does require extensive modification on the aircraft...I believe that will be the one we are getting.

It looks like we will retrofit all the -200's with a new rest facility in the rear of the aircraft that will replace the exisiting F/A crew rest area with one that will add a seperate area to accomodate 2 pilots. The only concern is the distance from the rest area to the cockpit. No final decision has been made yet.

Are they going to retrofit them into the aircraft prior to 29 March?

What about the need for 2 biz class rest seats?

Just curious about the proximity from the crew rest area to the cockpit and why that would be an issue.

I don't think it will creat any more positions since the 330 will replace a aircraft already flying the route. It might in fact move up the retirement schedule on the whales again. That would not be good news.

It will only create more positions if management admits this is a 12+ hour leg. The 747-400 currently has this leg with a 3 pilot crew at 11:40 scheduled block time. An A330 with a scheduled block time of 11:55 would also be frlown by a three pilot crew, but at a lower pay rate than the -400. An A330 over 12 hours would add one captain position to this route versus the -400