Delta CEO in Memphis this morning
 

Still in discussion with pinnacle.. and some other good insights.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=768944643&play=1

Thanks for posting.

Its somewhat comforting to know that someone has a plan in this mess.

R.A.'s plan in this mess:
Announce merger, collect bonus: Check.
Go on tv promoting merger, collect bonus: Check.
Claim no furloughs/hub closures, secretly planning to do opposite: Check.
Raise ticket prices to match rising cost of fuel: Ehhh..... Maybe tomorrow.
Oh yeah, collect bonus and make golden parachute larger for myself and my friends: Check.

Seems about right to me :)


But I agree... it seems like they have something good in the works. I just hope it works out and they stick to the plan while not forgetting about the employees that make the company stay alive on a daily basis.

Interesting indeed

My theory...The union and company met monday and tuesday for contract negotiations.

Delta announced their plan on Tuesday morning.

I think this is Pinnacle's way of scarring the pilots, so we will accept a sub par contract.

Too many other things don't make sense.

You know someone else said that to me yesterday, and I thought he was nuts... but im starting to come way around on this thought. Almost full circle, I think you are onto something here.
Is Skywest or Air Wis hiring, I've had just about enough of this Pinnacle BS.

I think that mentality is borderline paranoia or just union propaganda. Why would Delta care if you guys get a good contract or not? Delta is the one that canceled the contract, not Pinnacle. Delta doesn't fund your paycheck, Pinnacle does. Canceling the contract has nothing to do with your negotiations with management. It has to do with performance numbers (thats a little iffy who's fault it was) and the fact Delta wants to cut its DCI carriers down to 3 or 4, and the weakest ones go.

i can answer that easy. new administartion coming in soon. if delta keeps us growing without a contract they stand a bigger chance of having flight disruptions when we go on strike a la comair. we are number 1 right now on the mediators desk since champion has gone under. as soon as the new administration comes in there is a chance that we could be released, plus by the time he got into office and got things going we would be without a contract for 4 years.

You're implying that Obama wins. I think the Dems made a mistake nominating the most liberal Senator outside of Kennedy to the party ticket. America likes centrists. McCain is more a centrist and could easily cull votes from both sides. I'm not saying I'm for or against either candidate, but to think its a done deal in June is far from reality.

Also, a mediator needs to believe that one side is incapable of making any future progress before you get released. Pinnacle mgt., could agree to several lines of language each week and the mediator could say "hey, progress is being made". It took Comair 3 1/2 years to get released. Remember also that under Bush's watch, the Comair guys got released. Under Clinton's, AMR was told to go back to work. It isn't always the Dems that play to labor.

Ahgg, I can't wait to go back to serving tables!!!

no i am not implying obama wins. i said there will be a change in the administration, be it mcain or obama there is a change coming. and like i said earlier it will be nearly 4 years since our contract was ammendable by the time the new president has been in office a few months.

the mediator can also say the company isn't negotiating in good faith by just doing a few lines at a time. i am just saying that delta has a big vested interest in us getting a contract. they dont care how much we are paid or what kind of contract we get, they will leave that decision to pinnacle, what they will care about is a pilot group that has had an amendable contract for over 3 years and the 99 percent strike vote. that is what they care about.

A absolutely agree with that statement. I also know that DAL said they would never again be shut down by a labor dispute with a regional. At a time when all airlines are teetering on oblivion, I personally feel that politics will never allow a strike to happen that would cost a carrier money and then result in an increase in costs. If 9E has a strike that adversely affects DAL, which it would through the 900 flying and the loss of most of NWA's feed, rest assured they could easily pull the plug on both outfits. I have to believe that DAL negotiated a get out of jail free provision in their agreement with 9E stating that any strike resulting in a shutdown of Pinnacle operations would nullify the codeshare contract.

I was at Comair years ago and went through their issues first hand. All I can say is I was naive back then about what a strike is about and what it does. I thought it was a powerplay against management back then. Times are different now and so is my attitude towards a strike. Be careful what you wish for, as it could come true.

I believe RA and PT were college roommates. Should be interesting indeed.

Hey, PinnacleFO you need to update your userid! :)

OMG! Unless RA's in a TV studio set, he's in a LAW OFFICE! Those are LAW BOOKS behind him!!!!! Gives you some idea where those "discussions" are taking place!

The way Anderson answered the question about Pinnacle being "cut off" gives me the feeling that he's not completely convinced about letting Pinnacle go. It felt like Delta is just trying to put pressure on Pinnacle to keep their act together, and don't let pinnacle even think about asking for more airplanes at least for now. I also have the theory that with this "thread" to cancell our contract, what Delta really want is to keep the 900 already on property and negotiate the delay of the rest of the 900, having more control on the domestic cutbacks where they've been focusing on. Now, if Pinnacle gets stuck with only 9 900s we won't be able to sustain that operation for too long.

Is just a theory, nobody knows for sure, but I think Delta is up to something and a complete contract cancellation may not be just it.

DAL doesn't give a rat's butt about you or your contract. That is your management's problem, and DAL is not going to waste their time helping your managers solve their problems. If you think otherwise, you are just confusing yourself when you need to keep your eye on the ball.

oh yes they do. they worry about regional contracts. especially after comair went on strike.

now do they care about the terms of the contract. no
do they care about how much we get paid. no
do they care about how many days off we get. no

they don't care about any of that. delta is going to pay pinnacle a set amount no matter what. it is our managements job to decide how much of that money goes to the employees.

all delta cares about is knowing that the labor group that is doing their regional feed isn't able to go on strike for a certain amount of time, usually 5 years, and that a service interuption by the labor group isn't legally possible. that is what delta wants to see.

Not trying to hijack this thread, but if you listen to the video at about the 4 minute mark, Anderson says, "we still own Comair, err, we own Comair." Me thinks that was a slip up or I could be reading too much into this.

What will Pinnacle do with the crj900 if we lose the contract with Delta. Pinnacle has already delayed the delivery of the 10th crj900.

Its not secret that Anderson is not a fan of wholly owned regional's. He said that several times during his tenure at NWA and it was on his watch that 9E went public.

I was confused by that remark as well, but I think it's his distaste for Comair and his being upset that OH never sold. As in "We tried to sell 'em, but we still own Comair." I've also heard rumors going around of him or Bastian saying something at a shareholder meeting "We own Comair, may as well use them." But I haven't seen that in print yet, just word of mouth.