Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?
02-17-2011, 06:14 PM
Banned
Joined APC: Jul 2010
Posts: 793
Scenario:
Given - No JS available.
Pilot has a 1000 sign in out of ATL. Puts himself down for a non-rev seat on a DL mainline flight that departs at 0730 and arrives at 0830 in ATL. The night before the flight shows open seats, but when boarding starts it shows oversold and he isn't able to get on the flight.
So he goes to his back up flight which is scheduled for a 0830 departure and 0930 arrival into ATL. This flight showed plenty of seats available the night prior. He talks to the gate agent and the gate agent confirms there should be plenty of seats remaining (for this example let's say 20) and the pilot should be able to get one of those.
According to the policy the pilot supposed to call crew scheduling now and get PS.
The memo says this should be a rare occasion ("Rare is defined as a few times during a pilot’s career."), but the mandate to call if you miss the primary flight (even if the back up flight has plenty of seats available) appears that it may not be as rare as one would think. I've had to commute on my back up flight on more than one occasion.
Additionally, I don't see any mention of a requirement that there actually be open seats 24 hours prior to the flight. If that requirement doesn't exist can you safely assume that it could be used against you when speaking to someone with company? e.g. "Well, what did you expect, you saw there weren't any seats available on your primary flight the night before. You should have come in the night before." <--what I normally do if I don't see seats on my primary flight, BTW.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the new policy; I like the fact that I have assurance I can get PS on the back up flight if it's required. That's much better than sweating it out and wondering if you're going to make it or not. But it seems the sweat factor now is going to be "Do I call and get PS or do I take a chance and see if I get a seat since there appear to be plenty available--I don't want to get on the bad boy list as I called for PS in situation like this about 18 months ago."
Given - No JS available.
Pilot has a 1000 sign in out of ATL. Puts himself down for a non-rev seat on a DL mainline flight that departs at 0730 and arrives at 0830 in ATL. The night before the flight shows open seats, but when boarding starts it shows oversold and he isn't able to get on the flight.
So he goes to his back up flight which is scheduled for a 0830 departure and 0930 arrival into ATL. This flight showed plenty of seats available the night prior. He talks to the gate agent and the gate agent confirms there should be plenty of seats remaining (for this example let's say 20) and the pilot should be able to get one of those.
According to the policy the pilot supposed to call crew scheduling now and get PS.
The memo says this should be a rare occasion ("Rare is defined as a few times during a pilot’s career."), but the mandate to call if you miss the primary flight (even if the back up flight has plenty of seats available) appears that it may not be as rare as one would think. I've had to commute on my back up flight on more than one occasion.
Additionally, I don't see any mention of a requirement that there actually be open seats 24 hours prior to the flight. If that requirement doesn't exist can you safely assume that it could be used against you when speaking to someone with company? e.g. "Well, what did you expect, you saw there weren't any seats available on your primary flight the night before. You should have come in the night before." <--what I normally do if I don't see seats on my primary flight, BTW.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the new policy; I like the fact that I have assurance I can get PS on the back up flight if it's required. That's much better than sweating it out and wondering if you're going to make it or not. But it seems the sweat factor now is going to be "Do I call and get PS or do I take a chance and see if I get a seat since there appear to be plenty available--I don't want to get on the bad boy list as I called for PS in situation like this about 18 months ago."
02-17-2011, 06:18 PM
Inventory survival kit ..
Joined APC: Jul 2008
Position: Seeking no jacket required rotations
Posts: 1,069
If you start using it when you don't need it, it will be a red flag for continuing the policy.
The caveat is if the gate agent is wrong, or another flight cancels and they send a boatload of HKs to your backup flight.
02-17-2011, 06:20 PM
veut gagner à la loterie
Joined APC: Apr 2008
Position: Light Chop
Posts: 23,286
02-17-2011, 06:43 PM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2007
Position: FO
Posts: 3,044
02-17-2011, 07:04 PM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2007
Position: Left seat of a little plane
Posts: 2,431
"For many, commuting is a personal lifestyle choice, but the anxiety level can still be significant. "
I'm going to have to ask JG why he felt like he had to include this sentence. Read the paragraph without it. It makes perfect sense and changes the entire tenor of the message. That sentence contributes nothing to the message. All it does is make him look either ignorant of, or unconcerned about the great numbers of pilots that have been forced to make the difficult decision to either pack up and move, bid down to lower paying equipment, or start commuting.
It's a good policy, but the message was delivered poorly.
I'm going to have to ask JG why he felt like he had to include this sentence. Read the paragraph without it. It makes perfect sense and changes the entire tenor of the message. That sentence contributes nothing to the message. All it does is make him look either ignorant of, or unconcerned about the great numbers of pilots that have been forced to make the difficult decision to either pack up and move, bid down to lower paying equipment, or start commuting.
It's a good policy, but the message was delivered poorly.
While he has his issues, I respect Steve Dickson, our current Senior VP of Flight Ops (or is it Executive VP? I don't know). He is an improvement over his predecessor, Joe Kolshak (who is now at UAL).
We used to call him "inaugural Joe" because every time we might pick up a new airplane at Boeing, Joe would add on his code-a-phone "I had the privilege of flying a new airplane from Boeing last week" blah blah.
So a couple of years ago we get our first 777LR (capable of nonstop JNB-ATL among other things, a first for the 777 at DAL) and instead of SD picking up the plane himself, he had two very worthy pilots do so--I'll leave the names out. He even made a special code-a-phone, which was great! It was great all the way until the last line which went something like: "and amazingly, in 50+ years of combined DAL flying, neither pilot has ever called in sick once!"
What was the point of that (subtle "and you shouldn't ever call in sick either")? JG's little "commuting is a lifestyle choice for many" reminds me of the same...and I don't even commute!
02-17-2011, 07:14 PM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2007
Position: Left seat of a little plane
Posts: 2,431
Now back to our normal gripe session...
02-17-2011, 09:41 PM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Nov 2008
Position: A330B
Posts: 102
commute policy
Jim,
If your intent was to discourage anyone from using the new commute policy in your poorly worded preamble... then shame on you. We're all big boys here even the ones that don't live in Peachtree City.
You're unbelivable!
As a commuter it's good for us and the company.
If your intent was to discourage anyone from using the new commute policy in your poorly worded preamble... then shame on you. We're all big boys here even the ones that don't live in Peachtree City.
You're unbelivable!
As a commuter it's good for us and the company.
02-17-2011, 09:54 PM
Da Hudge
Joined APC: Oct 2006
Position: Poodle Whisperer
Posts: 17,473
I do the same. I find that while I disagree with most of the Fox criticism alleging biased reporting on their part (again--not speaking about the individual personality shows here), that I can only take so much of the "cheese factor." Too often there's just too much non-seriousness to Fox and while I have a good sense of humor, I like my news on the dry side.
Since I dont get fox biz, I pretty much just put cnbc on muting during the day and peruse various news stories.
Oh, and stephanie abrams can bring me my weather anytime.
02-17-2011, 10:07 PM
Da Hudge
Joined APC: Oct 2006
Position: Poodle Whisperer
Posts: 17,473
02-17-2011, 10:38 PM
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2008
Position: Top
Posts: 472
Televised news is a waste of time: you get the news the producers want you to get for as long as they want in the order they want to give it to you.
Depth? Context? Fuggadaboudit!
Give me The Economist, The Early Bird, and my local paper. I'll read the news that matters to the level of detail I prefer. When I want eye candy, I'll put on Mexican tv.
Depth? Context? Fuggadaboudit!
Give me The Economist, The Early Bird, and my local paper. I'll read the news that matters to the level of detail I prefer. When I want eye candy, I'll put on Mexican tv.
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