Go Cards go

Do you think we’ll see results today? I don’t have a bid in but I’m still excited to see how this one turns out. Between this and the November wides hopefully coming out I’ll be refreshing the crew resources page frequently!

Hotel Kilo

Hey Trip. The 73N will be the junior plane at DAL. Especially on the "A" side. Network had always planned to supplant the 73 island flying from NYC once enough NEOs were onboarded. I think I posted about that some time ago. It's a better plane for our customers. Same goes for the transcons. As 75's retired out the NEO was slotting in and the push to get the D1 config approved was at warp speed. We couldn't get that done fast enough. You may see a slight uptick in some island flying from ATL. But the lions share of that flying will be NEO (especially from the NY base).

The 73 flying in NYC base will shift to probably more than 50% of the originators coming out of LGA for their bid pack. The 73 in NYC will be relegated to mostly domestic out of LGA, there will be some island tag ons if you happen to touch ATL, but the plan has always been to slide the transcons and island flying out of NYC to the NEO. The NYC 73 folks are going to start to see this now, if not already. If anyone flew the 88 out of NY base, the bid packs for the 73 there will be looking eerily familiar. That is why I'm saying that the 73n will be the junior plane at delta. It's going to start bouncing around the bergs and villes more and more. MAX won't really change that dynamic. The plan was to slot that jet into a few transcons (I don't believe the MAX is getting the D1 configuration like some of the NEOs are) but mostly due mid stage 3/4 cons (think JFK - SLC, ATL-SEA, ATL-PDX, ATL-SAN, ATL-SFO and stuff like that). MAX won't see any of the island flying direct from JFK. Maybe one or 2 places like is happening now, but again, as more NEOs are onboarded the lions share of that one leg island flying to and from is gone from the the 73 fleet probably for a long long time.

ATL 73 flying will be about the same as it was. Same for SLC, DTW and LAX. SEA will be interesting to see how network plays with that. I've seen some plans, and like I stated before, other than the Alaska stuff, the SEA bid pack for the 73 will be less than exciting. Again, as more NEOs come onboard the days of one leg overnight one leg back are pretty much going to be predominantly gone from the 73 bid packs.

Unless you can solidly hold a true WB "A", I'd bid the little Bus and camp out there. Unless you like banging out of LGA and hitting all those garden spots the 88 used to service.

tennisguru

I would guess that when the 717's finally go away, most of that flying will be upguaged to the 737, with a smaller percentage to the 320/321.

Hotel Kilo

That's a bingo.

As you know, since you've been here awhile at DAL, network is constantly shifting things around. However, in this case the cutomers really tell us what they "like" - they really like the NEOs.

I've never been a chase an airplane for destinations person, because, well, it changes with the whims of networking (until you get up into WB land of course). However, we do see some continuous trips on all fleets. That is what I was discussing about in my above post re: the 73 fleet. Seniority is king. As you know it provides your choices of vacay, training and shots at the premimum flying. The epic shift in the flying the 73 was doing (especially out of the NY base) to the NEO is going to be pretty much a permanent fixture of the bid backs. Bid accordingly if you're a destinations person. If you're a seniority all the way damn the destinations person, then the 73 might be a good choice for you.

crewdawg

I keep an eye on the 320 bid packet in DTW and they already have quite a few 717 style days in their trips. I also noticed multiple trips that were basically a copy and paste of our trips on the 717, 3-2-3 bouncing between RDU, BUF, MKE, etc... It will be interesting if those stay or shift over the 737.

planejoe

When are the 717s slated to be retired?

MSP7ERB

On a recent Town Hall, Marketing Q&A regarding island flying says the bulk will stay on the 737 because of NPS reasons. There is little difference in NSP scores on island flying between the 737 & 320 fleets where in the domestic flying there is a much bigger difference in the NPS between the fleets. IOW, the island tourist flyers don't seem to be as fussy about what kind of plane they are on.

RAH RAH REE

I really don't see a lot happening. I think a ton of the BOS 330 spots will be taken by really senior NYC guys that are either already on the 330 or been staying on the narrow bodies for the better schedules for the commute.

Whoopsmybad

I’ve heard this mentioned a lot too. NEOs and the 321 family will stay in the routes with the largest business traveler I think. Which means 321 NEC/CEO out of LGA will not go away.

tennisguru

I’ve not heard a firm date (not that it would mean anything anyways) but all signs point to the fleet staying at the current size until 2030. At that point things become much murkier and I’m sure it will depend on a variety of factors such as mx/engine overhaul costs, the economy, whether Boeing and Airbus can give us the new planes we’d want to replace the flying, etc.