Wasatch, Thanks for the kind words, and I'd love to bend a few back with you and all my new Delta brothers and sisters. A few here have dissed' my attitude,(positive) and thats fine with me. I have a choice each day, and I've never gotten anything by choosing to be po'd. I didn't do too well in the computers's juggling of our list, the worst was 1700 numbers, I was at 1592 hired after me going ahead. Oh well, it happened. There has been so much happening here since we first heard the names Al Checchi and Gary Wilson, I'd be tango uniform if I chose to be po'd. I used to fly with an old Southern Airways Captain when we bid the whole month together. I'd be grumbling about everything, living in a 36 inch circle around myself. He'd say, Hey man, I can't wait to get to Indy! Why Rod?, "Man, they got the best corn in the whole system there", and he'd get a big bag of popcorn and put it on the pedestal, and he was right. We'd eat corn and live the dream! Rod died of a brain tumor at age 57, and I gave his eulogy. It ended like this. "Captain Rod, your flight today is a pattern position to your home of destination. Your logbook is clean, no write ups. Your tail number is 7777. Ship load is a crew of two, no pax. Total enroute time will be short, but your layover will last an eternity. Your copilot will be in the seat with you for the first time, but has been with you before on every flight. Wave Off will be on your left, and you have a lot of grateful people to see you off. (Hand Salute), Good Luck, Captain Rod, have a great flight home!"
Ever since that day, I've known I have a choice. And if you ever taste the corn in Indy, you'll begin to understand.

Out of all the posts I've ever seen on here, I've never seen one that puts things in perspective more than that.

Thanks for sharing that, King.

Well with he way that DAL does its flying it will be a net loss of pilots needed. See it will more than likely be flown by a SEA and or LAX MSP 7Er pilot base. What that means is that you will be flying an active leg to NRT not dead heading. What this does is in essence take the two days and 28 hrs of DH pay off of each trip. I think you guys DH two to three crews a day. Now those DH will be flying legs. Trips will probably be seven to nine days and it will all be flying. Thus', we fly more, DH less and the company needs less pilots. When you add that up over a week that is at least 14 crews. Lots of bodies in my opinion!

Yep the 7Er is to go North to MSP, SEA, and DTW. The 88 can hit both coasts out of MSP, and I think DTW. I know MEH uses them out of MKE so an extra 200 miles should be doable. That means that the 9's are coming to ATL, 320's will more than likely go to SLC and CVG(maybe) The 744 are going to NYC, and ATL. The 330's to ATL, and NYC (cargo) the 777's well probably have a base in ATL, NYC, MSP and maybe LAX eventually.(Just a guess) I am sure that there will be some 320's left in the North but probably a smaller base. The need them for deep Mexico and what not. The 757 can do it, but they have other plans for those.
Now it remains to be seen how much of this is going to shift and how quickly. This is the plan. As we know plans change.
If you noticed there is no mention of the 73N in there. I personally think that we will see what happens with AS before making those plans. They are a 757 replacement on thin routes. So there is a place for them in each base.

Perspective is a wonderful thing. No matter where this goes, we have a choice to enjoy it, or whine about it. I have done both. I also know that taking the bad in stride and being grateful for the good, makes life's bumps a little less jarring.
Lets have fun, enjoy the job, and realize that IMHO in five to ten years everyone left here at the New Delta will probably be sitting at least one or more seats better off then they would have been with the stand along plan. (I know some NWA guys will argue with that, but there is going to be tremendous growth that you can not see if all you do is look at the SLI and think about what ifs. )

Ferd,

Unfortunately it looks like the mad cow is kickin' in and I've only got the rest of this season left!:( AAAAAHHHHHHH........Shirley.........Schmidt....... ..

Candace is still a knockout!!!:D

Denny

Ok, I've thought about it for awhile and I have no idea what AS is. Please help. I'm sure I will have an "ooooaaaaah" moment when I read your response. :D

:rolleyes: It shorthand for "Another SLI" :rolleyes:

Hey it also gives us more ways to get to Hawaii from Seattle. I heard the Alaska crews treat us well...

King,
You don't wanna touch the -800 flying. It's HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE I tell ya. 6-8 legs a day, minimum crew rest at the overnights, lousy copilots (just fly with me!!). The cockpit is too small, the seats are too hard, the noise is too loud. NOBODY should EVER bid this aircraft......... Seriously, thanks for the great posts, you seem like a class act, here's a DAL guy that is lookin forward to tippin a few back with ya.

AS is the code for Alaska Airlines.

Hey King sorry about the cooladie comment earlier. Rod used to be a good friend of mine. Great guy. Good luck to ya.