PilotBases

Wasn't the 350 the pacific jet and the 330 the Atlantic? US-Japan is greatly pushing the spec of the 330.

Hotel Kilo

I don't fly it, we don't here at DAL. My buddies do at AAL/UAL. They do not know the words "payload optimized" These guys are west coast or ORD based and fly to Asia all the time. There's a reason the 339 was not a big seller. We'll get a ton for cheap and payload optimize and still make people feel liek they are getting the best. Gotta had it to the marketing folks.

Tinpusher007

Not from LA or Seattle...

Tinpusher007

Im not calling you or your friends liars but AA has no routes to Asia from ORD to speak of and UAL 787-9's only seat 257 vs 281 for us on the A339. The x-wind performance hit definitely hurts us and I assume the 787 doesn't have the same issue. I recently flew with a new pilot who used to fly 78's for Etihad and he said it wasn't uncommon for them to be payload restricted at times as well. I realize they fly much longer flights than us and out of different climates which reinforces the point that the two aircraft really aren't the same. But when both are stretched to the limits of their performance capabilities they both take hits.

PilotBases

My buddies at UA on the 777 always say they cap pax to get cargo on, and they’re starting their cruise to Australia at 300 when the Delta 350 is at 360 burning 2/3 the gas

N6279P

This is such a ridiculous comparison. There’s no way it’s “always” holding seats. That typically only happens on flights over 14 hours or so.

Scoop

I don't know what it is but DAL loves to buy jets and then put them on routes that they struggle with. I used to fly the 737 from LAX to the Islands. We tried that on the 737-900 and it was struggling. Now I am on the 330 and the 330-900 is pathetic when the performance hits are applied. The HND to MSP is about 5300 miles, its actually listed as 5328 today for MSP-HND and this is from the Airbus A330-900 website :

The mid-size widebody with lowest seat-mile costs

It is a versatile platform that delivers highly efficient performance for airlines, from short-haul segments to long-range routes over distances of up to 7,200nm.



Well, they do say "up to," so as long you are not running regularly scheduled flights, and can wait for ideal conditons it should be no problem - oh wait, nevermind.

Then again our managment seems to be very good at making a profit so maybe this is the way to go, its just frustrating leaving folks and cargo behind.

Scoop

sailingfun

Pretty much everything East of the Mississippi is two pilot for them and the other European carriers.

sailingfun

I am not sure what you define as small but last quarter Delta had about 1.3 billion in pilot costs on about 14.5 billion in revenue.

Tinpusher007

Flights to Australia can take 14 hrs. I think the point he's making is that even the mighty 777 has to take payload hits under certain conditions.