Question for former NW Airlinkers
 

Just curious - please only answer this poll if you work for Pinnacle, Mesaba, or Compass

Pilots hate change.

Seemed with NWA you knew more of what was going to happen flying wise, hasnt exactly been the smoothest ride since the merger.

I think the biggest complaint is flying out of every base and having schedules that are far less efficient than the "old way".

plus the benefits got worse.

I just think about all the time under the NWA banner and it only took 1 year under Delta to screw it all up...

That's just Delta doing what Delta does!

Deadhead especially was better under NWA. Not sure if it's just 9E that's gotten screwed up, but under NWA, you get a PNR, you go online, you check in, print your boarding pass and you're done. Under Delta, you can't check in on-line, by the time you get your PNR there are no seats left and you can't print out your boarding pass. Getting it at a kiosk is hit or miss (granted this could be the "excellent" crew schedulers we've got inputing the information. I can't remember how many times they've misspelled my last name, and it's right in front of them), and the instructions our company gave us to check in at the kiosk are wrong. Which pretty much leaves us going to the gate agent for everything. 90% of the time they are NOT happy to see us, especially when they're oversold and we don't have seats. Times I was on "standby" under NWA: zero. Times under Delta: 4 times this month.

I really like when checking in as a Nonrev with the NWA system. When I check in for a flight that's mostly open. I can pick my seat and not have to deal with a gate agent. That's one of the things I miss the most. I must say that I like the new WF2 system much better. Overall some are good and some are not

WF2 is MUCH better than waiting for the gate agent to input numbers....except they forget, went on break and now no one can find them. Honestly, I think we would have wound up with something like that even if the merger never happened. We were burning too much gas in the run up pads waiting on numbers....

I definitely miss the old NWA! I think about it frequently everytime me and my family non-rev. They often ask me which I like the most, and I - and they- all miss the good days of being part of the 'Airlink' family.

The unlimited international travel was something I miss probably the most. That, and "all" interline travel - including the ID 75/90 agreements (which we lost) and buddy passes (lost those, too). NWA was really good to their Airlink people as far as those benefits go... and having to compete with only mainline NWA, Compass and Mesaba wasn't really that bad trying to get a flight. It's next to impossible now on a lot of routes.

As another poster mentioned, being able to check-in online and printing boarding passes was a great perk for us.
What I DO like since the merger is having access to DLNET so we can book our flights online, whereas we couldn't have access to RADAR under NWA.

Did parents/retirees of mainline get on ahead of Airlink employees? I can't remember now but even then I went pretty much where I wanted with ease.

Plus, having Pepsi and Mtn Dew's was pretty high on my list!! :)

Delta was shrinking when it should have been growing, now we are left with too many passengers and not enough airplanes. Although, they could not have known the economy was going to recover like it did.

doesnt matter what name you put on the side of the plane... Pinnacle will always be a POS.

Never thought I'd say it but I miss Northworst. Darn Delta and their fancy cookies and peanuts before they gave us a big kick in the a$$. On top of the crappy schedules and rapid growth that turned rapid decline when the beloved Saab was told she was no longer good enough for the Delta family, my commute went from DC-9s & Airbus' to 76 and now mostly 50 seaters. I went from a super easy commute to praying I make it on the last flight of the night.

RIP Airlink family...