Scoop

Sailing we have already shrunk. We did not replace any of the ER guys and others have been retiring, and none of these guys have been replaced.

In all fairness this was only the first of hopefully many bids on the 717 and so hopefully we will be entering a growth phase, but make no mistake - we have shrunk.

A lot of us were hoping this bid would finally start the movement we have been hearing about and hoping for. Yes, it was a step in the right direction, but it was a baby step at best. So even though many of have been looking forward to this bid for months, if not longer, and even though it is marginally positive - many, many individuals will be negatively impacted on this bid.

FWIW - I don't really blame the new contract for this but chalk it up to the final synergies of the merger along with pull-downs in capacity. Whatever the reason it is a bummer.

Scoop

KC10 FATboy

THIS !!!!

I couldn't have said it better. As someone who has deadheaded on Delta Connection 7 times in the past 4 months, the Delta Connection product sucks! Everyone knows it. Delta knows it. The DAL pilots know it. The passengers know it. Passengers hate waiting for their gate checked bags when its freezing in the jetway and their connection times are tight. I just don't understand why DAL likes this product? It is killing the brand.

hitimefurl

No wonder you guys are so miffed. I never made more than $54K as a turboprop Captain and then haven't hit $134K here yet. I want to say you were overpaid as an RJ pilot...so confused...

sailingfun

This is a example of how wrong the forum gets things. The bid that just closed in nov replaced those ER pilots in fact it replaced almost every single one. Around 94 awards were made. Add in the additional awards now and we may have added seats. The award is still available on delta net. The aug bid replaced many of the 747 captains who retired. The 330 was not back filled because of the lie flat mods.

sailingfun

Begin the process is not hiring. That was to get the needed pipeline set up and start interviews. Hiring would have began in winter of13

sailingfun

Read the Dec crew planning letter about this bid.

e current unknown factor is the DC9. We did not expect the DC9 to remain in service into 2013, and as a result, the DC9 training department has been greatly reduced. With this reduction, we can now train only two DC9 crews a month. If a large number of DC9 pilots bid off the equipment on the October and early 2013 AE bids, we will be challenged to backfill those pilots in order to meet the summer DC9 flying demand. If DC9 pilots remain on the equipment, the situation is not as critical. Unfortunately, we are not very good at predicting pilot bidding behavior. The October 2012 bid has DC9 openings so we can create a buffer in the event a large number of DC9 pilots do bid off. The early 2013 bid may have DC9 openings as well depending on the number of DC9 pilots bidding off on the October bid.

capncrunch

Everybody I know has been moving backwards the last few years and the last three AEs have been the worst. You're the king of misrepresentation on this forum.

DeadHead

I have a hard time believing that it takes a whole year to start up the hiring/training department. Maybe a few months, but a whole year seems a bit extreme.

I'll give you that they are probably holding out for as long as they can before hiring, and then keep an even continuous stream of new hires coming to balance out retirees. Looks like they figured they could eek out another summer schedule before hiring. Not sure if that was the plan all along or not, but it certainly looks that way.

sailingfun

He stated they have not replaced any of the 767 captains that retired. You can read the last bid yourself. I guess your stating that crew planning is posting fake results. They also had additional 767 awards on the Aug bid. I did not even count those because the results are no longer in Icrew. The truth is a far cry from no 767 captains being filled. In fact they appear to have added 767 captains beyond those that retired. In NY last summer we had 280 to 290 captains. Going to have 300 plus this summer. Very strange with the same block hours and the massive job loss from the contract.
The last two bids were net positive. This bid is net positive.
I guess you would have preferred that Delta furloughed the surplus FO,s. that would have made for lots of upward movement as they were brought back. Personally I think it was better to keep them on the property. In the Captains seats which were not overstaffed to the extent of the FO' we have now added over 215 new positions since the contract was signed. Crew planning has stated that with this bid they will have used up the surplus FO's and expect the bids going forward to be almost all AE's. I call this good news, you can call it whatever you want.

sailingfun

I have no idea where you come uo with a year. They planned to set things up in Nov of 12 to start interviews in Dec with pilots in class in Feb of 13.