Bucking Bar

Guys,

It is not an affront when folks run the numbers for their personal situation and come up with a different answer. I DID decide to come to Delta and am pleased. The flying is good and the crews are great. With our raise maybe next year I will break even and then be off to the races ... as our f-NWA pilots have pointed out, our pay system for reserves is not equal to many in the industry.

My friends at the regionals have made choices that were every bit as correct for them. For some families it means a move, selling a house in a down market, making mommie go back to work. There are a million good reasons for staying senior & staying put. Sure, some could not get hired at Delta, but most never wanted to, or never tried. Because of longevity and the avoidance of bankruptcy they have a pretty good deal. The Captain that did my MD 88 IOE earned less than the guys giving IOE on the RJ's due to contractual differences in the pay for training / LCA team at my former carrier.

As we recapture flying we can not arrogantly assume our jobs are better in every case. We can not arrogantly assume the regional pilots are inferior. Part of unity is not exploiting those things that divide us.

SayAgain

Nice post.

Bucking Bar

Wonder how long those 16 (or so) will hold the 767 in Atlanta? If I'd seen that coming, I'd be studying

acl65pilot

Some of em are really good too!

Emergency landing: Delta Connection pilot lands jet using 1 wheel at JFK | Mail Online

brakechatter

A couple of things here. There are a bunch of reasons for staying put. I have no problem with it. The problem is that they are different companies. For every dollar extra they earn, it is money out of MY pocket. You can scream unity until you are blue in the face, but it boils down to that. Comair pilots' gains comes directly out of my pocket. ASA pilots' gains comes from my pocket via lucrative contracts with my company.

BTW, your example of a check airman earning more than a Delta check airman is a perfect example. It is unsustainable for the ASA check airman to have such a deal, as it is a Delta 88 check airman to have BK pay. BTW, I doubt your figures tremendously--just viewing my own -88 non LCP pay last year.

SWA coming to ATL now just exacerbates the situation at ASA. Those small RJs are about to become even MORE expensive--and unsustainable. Jerry is flailing to acquire whomever and whatever to stay viable. Republic as well. My prediction is that we see our 100 seater here after all, Alaska is next on the purchase block, and ASA, Comair, Republic, Skywest begin to shrink even more. Of course, SWA just blew their model right out of the water as well, so all bets are off.

Bucking Bar

Brakechatter,

You are right and I was thinking the same thing, that Southwest is likely to be a problem for the Delta Connection system.

My theory is that it is cost equivalent, or maybe even cheaper, to have mainline perform their own small jet flying. Especially when all the duplicate management and certificate structures are considered. (management and certificate management arguably don't produce revenue because these back office functions do not directly serve the customer)

I'd like to see ALPA devote some economic and financial analysis muscle to the question about the financial aspects of recapturing our work.

acl65pilot

Consolidation is bad for all small jet operators. With these dynamic route structures and large jet flexibility it is very hard to justify jets with less than 100 seats. The same efficiencies can be made with larger jets and service and gauge changes to different hubs at different times.

MKE is a good example. DAL has chosen to keep mainline to MSP and DTW, but has opted for more RJ's to ATL. Why? Well they are trying to force the customer to fly to the northern hubs and not though ATL. As Iceman stated on one of these threads, they are trying to smooth out the traffic between multiple hubs and away from ATL. Smart Smart Smart.

If anything the 10 year RJ contracts will probe problematic to the airlines of the post consolidated world. They will need to break them or shrink them.

Bucking Bar

If the contracts are "at risk" they will be self modifying.

You have asked the right questions. ALPA should have copies of those agreements and be evaluating them. Otherwise our C2012 pay rates will be effected by the 30+ Billion in obligations to carriers who perform our outsourced flying.

brakechatter

I think that is a great task for our strategic planning committee. Maybe I'll give them a heads up today.

brakechatter

I was just chatting with a buddy about that. I am glad that we are as big as we are. This is going to be like that critical piece in the game of jenga. It will all come tumbling down now. The shakeout has officially picked up steam--unless SWAPA messes it up.

If SWA/AAI goes as planned, it may just go a long way toward bringing some key folk toward our way of thinking with regard to scope.

It's going to be an interesting couple of months, that's for sure.

Edit: That jump to Delta is looking smarter and smarter. IMO, enormous pressure is about to rain on Skywest, Eagle, Republic, Comair, and the rest of the regional pilots