Bucking Bar

Good argument for leadership by an enlightened despot ... and you are right. No doubt those men at the table had better knowledge than the dumb masses who paid them to be there.

ALPA is however a grassroots organization founded on unity and is a representational democracy. IMHO those who represent our union should be very careful not to criticize, or attack, the very pilots they are duty bound to protect. Is that unfair? Sure it is. It comes with the territory of serving as a fiduciary where others interests are placed above your own. Besides, the facts being as they are, truth will be brought to light simply by patiently waiting for its discovery.

Along those lines Delta hasn't publicly announced deals yet which utilize the additional 76 seat jets allowed by the TA. Little tidbits on debt restructuring have come from unexpected sources, like Emirates' complaints of Delta's own ~4+ Billion dollar transactions with the import/export facilities in Brazil and Canada. There have also been unconfirmed reports that Bastian has stated our debt about 3 billion lower than earlier guidance. But the Bastian report is nonsensical without a transaction. You must enjoy watching us guess.

Several representatives have opined that the agreed process was not followed and they were unable to represent the direction provided by their pilots. In my mind that dustup was resolved when the MEC, as a body, voted to send the agreement to the pilots. But, we probably should have had another round at some non pecuniary clean ups in Section 1, like the Republic carve out. Also, does the AF/KLM JV really need a three year window?

The point of this meandering post is somewhat rhetorical, but, was an autocratic cram down really necessary, or could a more open process served just as well without alienating ALPA supporters?

P.S. ... and I thank you for taking the time to be here. The conversation on this board is much more intelligent with your input, even if you blast away at me from time to time.

scambo1

What makes you think I am junior to you?

You may leave now.

georgetg

Alors le iPad est arrivé (pour les pilotes qualifiés sur Boeing 777):



Les pilotes d'Air France s'équipent de l'iPad d'Apple

Cheers
George

Bucking Bar

orvil

According to my wife, my chance is 0.

Bucking Bar

Looks like a Samsung Galaxy to me.

TenYearsGone

We are trying to become more efficient. Although, I was an "against" voter, I have been looking at our position as an airline. We need to pay the piper sooner than later. Why?

-Delta is staffing aircraft at around 17 crews per plane. The nearest competitor is between 15 and 16. So technically, we are overstaffed on a comparison basis.

-NRT hub under attack. Can be a very Bad thing if NRT is null-and-void.

-Our true debt is over 43 billion dollars. A few billion more than our nearest competitor.

-RA has been know to say he wants a 9000 pilot work force at Delta. We are getting closer to this number monthly. Our new contract allows us to fly more, thus less pilots needed. Lately, I have been flying with Captains that fly more than I expected (over 90 hours/month).


** It is apparent and needed that Delta be on a Diet. We need to lean out and become more efficient. I would rather not hire, than hire and furlough. Management needs to do what management deems necessary to make us competitive. What I dislike is the way the UNION "sells" on behalf of management.

These are the reasons, imho, that we are not hiring anytime soon and coincidentally our stock price reflects our inefficiency and debt.

TEN

Bucking Bar

What ? ! ?

Scoop

Did I miss something? Its been about three months since the TA passed and guys are mad that we are not hiring yet???

I voted yes and would vote yes again. Look we all knew that short term this would not help with hiring - higher ALV - shorter July and August etc. Long term we will see hiring and not because or in spite of the TA but because of retirements. The age 65 rule did a lot more to delay hiring than our new contract.

I and 1100 other DAL guys were furloughed while DCI flourished. This contracts brings domestic flying from 55% to 65% mainline - that is good. Yes more large RJs sucks but that is secondary to the fact that mainline will fly more passengers - mainline is going to grow as a percentage of the DAL system. Not last month, not next week but hopefully over the next few years.

And yes I realize the 50 seaters were going away anyway - does that somehow make it not good?

And finally, I don't think too many DAL pilots "fell" for anything - there was plenty of information out there both pro and con about the TA. We all knew, or should have know, what we were getting.

Scoop

80ktsClamp

My issue with the jumbo RJs is how long they will be around. The 50 seaters were going away, and we bent over to help them park them only a couple years ahead of schedule. DL achieved a major small jet scope weapon against us for longer into the future with this contract.

That was my major issue with the scope section of the contract. The rest of my issues were that it took what my lowest expectations were and undershot them significantly (the inflationary level pay "raises," crap min day, vacation and training pay still at the bottom of our peers and many regionals, concessions on staffing, and so on).

As such, I felt it would delay hiring and advancement vice hiring approaching the front burner. I really really don't want to be proven right. It's our contract and we're along for the ride now. Hopefully we can capture some goodies on the FT/DT negotiations...