Okay, I will say it differently! The policy of ALPA in the past has been to support the integration of pilots (ALPA members) in the acquisition of assets. We have all heard that some DAL pilots wish to dump ALPA. Either the policies of the past that have benefited ALPA members or they haven't. To now dump ALPA for whatever reason and hang you fellow members out to dry is sleazy!

Just saying!

The Oscar

 

Ha! You can SHUV the LUV, at least the type of LUV we're seeing.

 

Southwest to pay $100M to fix up planes for Delta - Yahoo! Finance

Southwest will pay $100 million to repaint, reconfigure Boeing jets being leased to Delta

DALLAS (AP) -- Southwest Airlines Co. said Thursday that it expects to pay $100 million to refurbish 88 planes that it will lease to Delta Air Lines Inc.

That's twice as much as Southwest expected to spend on makeovers if it had kept the planes. Officials said it still made sense to lease the planes because Southwest will earn more money using bigger jets in their place.

The Boeing 717 jets were operated by AirTran Airways, which Southwest bought last year. Southwest wanted to replace the 117-seat planes with larger Boeing 737s, and Delta agreed to lease them beginning with 16 planes next year and the rest by the end of 2015.

Southwest will repaint the jets in Delta's colors and reconfigure the interiors, Chief Financial Officer Laura Wright said Thursday during a conference call with analysts. She said Southwest had expected to pay about $50 million to remodel them as Southwest aircraft.

Asked why the spending went up, CEO Gary Kelly said it was just part of making a deal with Delta.

"We just amazingly found a home for all 88 of those aircraft," he said.

Kelly said that Southwest will earn so much more money flying the bigger 737s on the same routes that "we will pay for that conversion cost in the first six months."

Wright estimated the benefit of using bigger planes at $200 million per year once all 88 have gone to Delta.

Southwest will take a $140 million accounting charge in the third quarter, with the gap between the charge and cost of the job due to financial help from the manufacturer.

Delta plans to use the 717s to replace 50-seat regional jets that are unprofitable to operate at current high fuel prices and some DC-9 aircraft that came over with the acquisition of Northwest Airlines.

 

Okay there TS, here is some cake to chew on. As I have said in the past the Pan Am deal included lying to very senior pilots (PAA) that DAL would feed the new Pan Am and there was no need to fight for transition to DAL. DAL then bought all the best assets and pulled the plug (to the tune of a promised 25 million dollars) just before Christmas of '91. This benefited DAL pilots by not offering senior Pan Am pilots the chance to transition. I won't get in to the details until it is again questioned but DAL (with no argument from the DAL pilots) screwed over the Pan Am pilots in many ways only to dump the senior ones as a Christmas present. I believe you were there at the time so if you have a different explanation on what I have described please feel free to enlighten us as to what really happened. You personally benefited from what happened to the Pan Am pilots but yet you wish to throw feces at myself and those here at SWA. Really?

The Oscar

 

What portion of capitalism is it that you don't understand T? I'll let you in on a little SWA secret strategy. They want to put ALL the legacies out of business, along with every other airline. They would love to have 100% market share.

 

Oscar,

Air Tran pilots are part of the Southwest pilot family now. They even voted for it by an overwhelming percentage, after SWA guys said they would be welcome with open arms. Now, it seems you want to send some of your new brothers and sisters to another family?

How can this be? Seriously, where is the luv?

After all that's been promised to those guys, and after the vast majority of them voted to in some way believe you, is this really what you mean?

It seems it doesn't take long for the stepchild to lose their shine.

(The ink isn't even dry on the seniority list yet.)

You are a good guy, don't let this stuff change who you are.

 

Actually, and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't a work group need file what is called a “single carrier” petition with the National Mediation Board in order to change their union representation?
Currently, the only AT folks that are represented by SWAPA are the ones that have transitioned to SWA. The ball of union representation is firmly in AT ALPA's court. I would gladly welcome all AT pilot's to be represented by SWAPA, but I believe that request must come from AT ALPA.

 

Actually, it seems to me that the fact that you are using a technicality (if there even is one) as reason to not include them (all of them) as part of the SWA family sends a signal to them that they really aren't and seemingly can't ever be part of the family at all.

I'm one of many step-children at my airline via a recent merger. It seems to me that once we had our seniority numbers, every step taken by management and my new brothers and sisters was inclusive of everyone. Some were painful, but none included or contemplated cutting anyone. Seems as though some of you guys are choosing a different path.

Good luck to you guys.

 

Does AT pilots want representation from SWAPA? I think it would be presumptious to just take over their group, without a request. I would prefer them to be SWAPA as soon as possible.

 

The PAA deal was a long time ago, and I do not remember a lot of the specifics. What I do remember is this: It was not DALPA that made any promises to the PAA pilots. There were shenanigans going on over at PAA that resulted in pilots that hadn't stepped foot on a 727 in YEARS being "qualified" so that they could come over. A LOT went on on the PAA side of the equation to which neither DAL nor DALPA were party. IOW, there were a ton of PAA pilots that threw feces on their own. All of that is hearsay however, but I have no reason to believe otherwise. The "benefit" I got out of the deal since I was so very junior at the time, was 5 years on the panel. Stagnation. Initially. Like you at SWA, we eventually saw the benefit at the combined carrier in increased routes (Europe) and a larger footprint worldwide. There were PAA pilots that came across the line that had been furloughed at PAA for 18 years (One I can remember went back into the Navy and retired as an O-6) and most of them came in right on top of me. However.. the big difference between the two deals that you conveniently omit is that PAA was bankrupt, and would have been shutting the doors and everybody would have lost their jobs. Everybody.... Your deal was nothing close. IT was SWA that needed AT, not the other way around. You stomped on those guys, and should be ashamed to have allowed GK to be your hatchet man, but it is obvious that you aren't... I will bet you this though. If SWA does another deal, you will have the fight of a lifetime on your hands, because the entire industry knows what you did this time, and that won't fly anymore... Best of luck.