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03-30-2014, 06:47 AM

#152631

scambo1

The Brown Dot +1

Joined APC: Jun 2009

Position: 777B

Posts: 7,775

Quote:

Originally Posted by TOGA LK

I wonder why they waited to hire? Perhaps they were hoping for something more with Alaska and when that fell through they needed the extra staffing sooner than later? But there has not been a pilot buildup out west yet flight attendants talk about positions opening in SEA all the time. Lots of conflicting information out there. The dynamics between less Alaska codeshare, build up of SEA (at some point and exactly when), 717 and 737 deliveries that cannot fit in NYC and ATL and putting newhires on a plane that is supposed to be reduced 25% after June is perplexing. Perhaps no other place to put them? I have been one or two steps ahead of this thing all along but now I cannot say as much. It's almost like we stopped retreating and went for a full frontal assault in a very short period of time.

Can any of the ALPA guys come out and say this was plan A all along? Did you know this much detail with regard to Alaska and SEA?

I'd agree with Sailing that the 1st qtr profit was a milestone DAL couldn't miss for S&P reasons. However, I don't think you are necessarily overthinking the ALK question. You may well be right on the ball.

ALPA guys can't come out and tell you about any plans...they sign non disclosure agreements...those agreements separate them from us (the unwashed represented masses) and make them appear cozied up to management...

For the record, I'm not anti collaboration on items of mutual benefit.

03-30-2014, 06:53 AM

#152632

sailingfun

Gets Weekends Off

Joined APC: Feb 2008

Posts: 19,596

Quote:

Originally Posted by GogglesPisano

Point of order: Network decides what airplanes fly where. Marketing advertises and sells tickets. Crew Resources tries to make Network happy. It's got nothing to do with marketing. (Irregardless

of what you might think.)

Correct, I should have said network.

03-30-2014, 07:20 AM

#152633

ExAF

Get's Every Day Off

Joined APC: Oct 2006

Position: Retired

Posts: 1,860

Quote:

Originally Posted by GogglesPisano

As far as World goes, it makes my streak official: every former aviation employer -- flight school, 135, regional and non-sched, is gone. One thing I'm good at is knowing when to quit.

Please post here if you ever plan on leaving Delta!

03-30-2014, 08:06 AM

#152634

gloopy

Gets Weekends Off

Joined APC: Jul 2010

Position: window seat

Posts: 12,544

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailingfun

Anderson has laughed at the notion of buying HA for their aircraft. We can have additional heavy aircraft any time we want. It makes no sense at all to purchase them for that reason. Much cheaper to just buy aircraft.

True, however doing that would add capacity. Buying HA gets us the AC, the network, some NRT bypass with good built in flow and a couple HND slots as well. And it does all of the above without adding a single seat of capacity.

03-30-2014, 08:12 AM

#152635

forgot to bid

veut gagner à la loterie

Joined APC: Apr 2008

Position: Light Chop

Posts: 23,286

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Shore

In a circumstance with 7% reserves or less, a senior pilot would likely do well to bid reserve, place all of his X-days at the beginning of the month, and submit a 30-day GS request. At that point, you're right that he will sit no short calls, but neither will he do much (if any) flying on his on-call days.

yes, that would be how to do it but the reality of this situation is theyre unstacking res no matter the seniority on reserve which disrupts the x days off in mass at the beginning of the month.

the third res pilot/second res pilot with a full res schedule is unstacked.

03-30-2014, 08:12 AM

#152636

gloopy

Gets Weekends Off

Joined APC: Jul 2010

Position: window seat

Posts: 12,544

Quote:

Originally Posted by shiznit

I also think it provides a nice springboard to improve our vacation in 12 months when we open!!

Yes and no (as far as using that for leverage). They will say they were forced into "me too-ing" other groups because of us, and therefore anything extra we get will have to be bargained for at the price of the entire company.

In any case, I really hope we don't even think about the 6th week until and unless we first fix weeks 1-5 by substantially increasing their values per day. 5 hours a day should be the minimum we go for.

03-30-2014, 08:18 AM

#152637

Alan Shore

Gets Weekends Off

Joined APC: Oct 2013

Posts: 1,299

Quote:

Originally Posted by forgot to bid

Probably so. But regardless of where his X-days sit, particularly if he bids them in as long a block as possible, he will be available for a GS trip on those days, and that will hopefully start the thunder rolling for him.

03-30-2014, 08:22 AM

#152638

gloopy

Gets Weekends Off

Joined APC: Jul 2010

Position: window seat

Posts: 12,544

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailingfun

There is no doubt that is what they want. Getting the gates is another issue. As I mentioned SWA and AK also want any new gates. I doubt AK will get them but we all know that SWA is the airport golden boy when it comes to getting gates. Hopefully RA can pull it off and we get lots.

We will get lots as long as we're willing to overpay for the construction like any big city airport project. That skinny bridge in LGA was 350 million…the arm in JFK 1.5 BILLION, for I think under a dozen gates. Palms have to be greased in situations like this. These are the most unremarkable structures imaginable, yet if its on a big city airport a 5-10 gate terminal extension will usually cost many times more than a 1500 ft tall sky scraper. Think about it.

Now is the perfect time to pay the airport mobs their bribe money, and I expect we will do exactly that.

03-30-2014, 08:23 AM

#152639

Alan Shore

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Joined APC: Oct 2013

Posts: 1,299

Quote:

Originally Posted by gloopy

I'm not saying that I wouldn't like to have that amount of value per vacation day, but to the extent that a 7-day vacation would then be worth 1/2 of an average month, how is that different from simply adding a proportional number of vacation days in a year?

Either way, you're getting more total vacation hours, and an equally greater amount of time off vis a vis less flying assigned throughout the year due to vacation.

The downside of more vacation value per rather than more vacation days is that reserve pilots' on call days are prorated by the number of vacation days they hold, and not by the value of those vacation days. IOW, while a regular line holder would get more days off in a vacation month either way, a reserve pilot would only get more if he had more vacation days.

03-30-2014, 08:27 AM

#152640

gloopy

Gets Weekends Off

Joined APC: Jul 2010

Position: window seat

Posts: 12,544

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailingfun

I have been told that for perhaps the first time ever flight ops refused marketings summer block hour plan because we did not have enough pilots. It was reduced as a result. Airframes don't seem to be an issue.

It could easily be both.

We could be short of planes and even shorter on pilots. Marketing plugs in how much they want the planes that we have to fly, and Flt Ops says if we can do it or not. But that doesn't mean we couldn't use more planes (assuming we had the staffing for them, which we don't, which is why its a moo point at this time).