georgetg

WOW the AMR pilot merger MOU adds $522M additional compensation above their new contract over the next 6 years.

That works out to $87M/year.

Cheers
George

FWIW, In Delta Dollars, 1%increase is roughly $20M/annually

alfaromeo

Before you get all high and mighty, you might want to consider that most of the guys on this forum would not have been hired by Delta when I was hired in 1988 because you weren't in the military. What does that mean? Times change, that's what it means. Before you start thinking that your poop smells like rose water you might want to think twice. I do think that you are wrong with the basis of your post, I believe that all Pinnacle pilots have to meet Delta's hiring standards; standards that management alone dictates.

I find it mildly amusing that the ex-RJ pilots spend so much time ranking on each other. Would you prefer that all these Pinnacle pilots get laid off? What kind of person would not grant a hand up to someone facing the poop sandwich that is coming down to that group? I do think that our profession needs is more pilots crapping on other pilots, that will be good for us.

johnso29

Can anyone recall the metric that drives up reserves required? IOW, doesn't the staffing formula prevent a skeleton airline? Was it if 60% if reserves exceed ALV then the reserves required increases?

alfa, do you recall?

georgetg

ALFA, you make some good points and I agree it at the very least bad karma to look down upon where one came from.

On the other hand there is a unique culture among Delta pilots that is unmatched at the regional level.
What do I know, between the shrink and the interview panel, somehow the end result seems to be a fairly homogenous group regardless of background.

That unique "culture" is simply not a given on the regional level where there are a lot more outliers...

Cheers
George

hoserpilot

Alfa your right. Times do change. So lets remove the 4 year degree requirement for all potential candidates. If its good enough for pinnacle pilots it must be good enough for other airline pilots. My best friend is short by one year. He got busy playing professional hockey for the Kings. He was injured and started flying. Now he has three busy boys and a great wife. Just struggling to make time to finish his degree between flying and coaching hockey. If he's good enough to be an airbus captain at another airline without the coveted degree then he should be afforded the same privilege as a pinnacle pilot. Do you think the pinnacle situation could open up delta to potential lawsuits?

Ps. I like the fact that we require a degree. I think if we dropped the requirement we'd open the floodgates to a greater percentage of truly unqualified pilots. They may be able to fly but their decision making may be less than stellar. Maybe a human resources person could chime in and educate my holier than thou attitude.

DLpilot

At what point do you consider seeing results? Of course they have these efficiences already in consideration. Even though an item might not start in December, they already had it planned for the last AE. The last bid did have some new captain positions which is great. However there was no backfill on the first officer side. Most of the first officer awards were displacements. The next bid will have no openings on the widebodies. The 7erb will have displacments. The 88 is overstaffed despite the fact that we have acquired more 90s.

johnso29

Everyone who points fault at the contract fails to address 737-900ERs replacing aircraft in the "overstaffed" fleets. I think that's the biggest factor. Personally, I think the company is playing a little mental warfare in attempt to scare people into bidding into new categories. This way they minimize displacements. That and the terrible global economy that has everyone except UsAir and JetBlue at a hiring halt.

Really, the only FO displacements that are "guaranteed" are ATL 767 displacements. And in all actuality, most of them will likely just go to ATL 7ER which is the same rates anyway.

alfaromeo

You see the factors D/60 which means that if reserves average more than 60 hours per month, you need more and E/14 which means that if reserves average more than 14 duty periods per month you need more. The different weighted averages between the two formulas (domestic/international) reflect the fact that domestic pilots are more likely to have fragmented trips with more duty periods and less block hours.

johnso29

So what this prevents is flying all the reserves to ALV + 15 & running a skeleton airline? Hmmm......seems that debunks the "thinner operation" theory. Thanks.

alfaromeo

In the last two bids (since the TA) there have been about 300 pilots move to HIGHER paying positions and 90 pilots move to LOWER paying positions. About 85 Captain upgrades are included in the 300 above. There is some false assumption that the list is moving backwards. The upwards movement is not dramatic but it is patently false that these have been backwards moving bids. Remember these are for the whole group so you may have been displaced.

This next bid will basically replace some FO jobs with 717 and 737 Captain jobs. It will have more pilots going to higher paying positions than lower paying positions or I will donate $100 to the charity of your choice. And yes, upgrading from widebody FO to a 717 Captain is an upgrade, if someone is too snooty or too lazy to fly domestic then screw them. I did it for years and years in the 88 so I have no sympathy. It was a great job with great guys and I had a blast.