DALPA Rep Says no go to merger....

[Mr.B]

I would say Clay FOOOOshey used basically an astronaut eval at NWA in the 90's. Stranger than even DAL has had. And wasn't it a father/son team that ran the psych evals during the 80's and 90's at DAL? As I recall didn't one or both of them commit suicide?l (R.I.P.)

I wonder what that shrink would say about general dipstick and his 10500 posts.

Sociopath's personality?

 

[DAL737FO]

I'm gonna have to CC this to the FDX MEC. For some reason the company is trying to give us narrowbody pay for the 757.

Oh, wait. Nevermind. Turns out it is a single-aisle narrowbody. I guess I misread something.

PIPE

You should. The 757 pays the same as the 767 at Delta.

ACL65pilot call your reps if you have any questions. We have had no talks with NWA for a week.

 

[pipe]

So if I call it a widebody, it becomes a widebody?

Did you tell W what to say about the recession that isn't happening?

PIPE

 

[FDJ2]

So if I call it a widebody, it becomes a widebody?

I think the point he was trying to make was that the 767/757 is a single category at DAL which pays the same as the 767er and is a wide body paid position. This is after all about making money, not which airplane you fly.

Perhaps a better way to say it is that DAL has significantly more premium flying positions.

With that being said, there are over 1000 NWA 757 positions that currently pay the same as a DAL mad dog which would immediately receive pay equity with the 767 by adopting the DAL pay structure plus any contractual gains.

 

[jester757]

So if I call it a widebody, it becomes a widebody?

Did you tell W what to say about the recession that isn't happening?

PIPE

Who gives a rats ass how many isles are in the back of the thing...pay rates is what it is all about as well as it is a sinlge catagorey at DAL.

Perhaps for you I could just put it this way for you - "DAL has three times the number of big shinny jets when compared to NWAs big shinney ones"

 

[Heavy Set]

So if I call it a widebody, it becomes a widebody?

Did you tell W what to say about the recession that isn't happening?

PIPE

Their 757-300 is a widebody due to weight.

 

[~~~^~~~]

It is over for now. Press reports are that Delta's senior management has backed away from the table. The pilots are not meeting.

As the NWA pilots realize what the opportunity was they will likely wish that it was not over. Pressure from within ALPA, management and their own pilot group might force the NWA committee to consider other viewpoints and moderate their position. Maybe this fall, but, never again with quite the position of strength they had in this round; Intransigence = Irrelevance when trying to make a deal work.

Not merging is much better for Delta pilots individually in the short term. Delta can simply order aircraft and save money by getting new hires on board without decades of longevity.

An ER with a Captain and two $49 an hour new hires that are "glad to be at Delta" with great attitudes seems like a better money making combination than the alternative.

 

[PCL_128]

Fins, I think by the fall it will be too late. An Obama DOJ is unlikely to approve of these sorts of huge mergers. They need Bush's DOJ to push this through.

 

[FDJ2]

Fins, I think by the fall it will be too late. An Obama DOJ is unlikely to approve of these sorts of huge mergers. They need Bush's DOJ to push this through.

I'm not too sure about that. Many other factors to be considered, not the least of which would be the state of the industry.

An Obama DOJ would be more likely to approve the deal if labor was on board and much more likely to reject it if labor opposes the deal.

 

[Fly4hire]

Their 757-300 is a widebody due to weight.

No, it's a "heavy" for wake turbulence seperation purposes.

 

[filejw]

Whatever happened to Baghdad Bob? That guy was HILLARIOUS, Bush should've hired him for his press secretary!

Well last time he was in public his hair was white and his mouth not so wide open.

 

[~~~^~~~]

The DOJ, what a joke. For the past several years they have been too busy trying to keep their own employees out of jail and keep anything from sticking to Dick Cheney's legacy. Under a Democrat they will be preoccupied trying to arrange special prosecutions.

If it were the FTC I'd be concerned. But a merger which benefits employees would not be stopped by the DOJ.

 

[PCL_128]

I'm not too sure about that. Many other factors to be considered, not the least of which would be the state of the industry.

An Obama DOJ would be more likely to approve the deal if labor was on board and much more likely to reject it if labor opposes the deal.

The problem is that an NWA/DAL merger would likely precipitate a wave of other mergers, and you can't approve one huge merger and deny the others. Even if labor was on board with your merger, labor might not be on board in the slew of other mergers that would follow. I think you'd find a Democratic administration much tougher to deal with on the merger front.

 

[Heavy Set]

The DOJ, what a joke. For the past several years they have been too busy trying to keep their own employees out of jail and keep anything from sticking to Dick Cheney's legacy. Under a Democrat they will be preoccupied trying to arrange special prosecutions.

If it were the FTC I'd be concerned. But a merger which benefits employees would not be stopped by the DOJ.

The DOJ sure did approve that NWA/TPG/Midwest deal fast. I was surprised with that one.

 

[jonjuan]

Fins, I think by the fall it will be too late. An Obama DOJ is unlikely to approve of these sorts of huge mergers. They need Bush's DOJ to push this through.

You better be worried about what a McCain DOJ will do.

 

[Occam's Razor]

It is over for now. Press reports are that Delta's senior management has backed away from the table. The pilots are not meeting.

In that tense...you are 100% correct.

 

[JoeMerchant]

Fins, I think by the fall it will be too late. An Obama DOJ is unlikely to approve of these sorts of huge mergers. They need Bush's DOJ to push this through.

.....and how do you feel about that? The logic there is that they would be worried about the consumer....Isn't it in all of our best interests if some mergers go through and we get some pricing power back?

 

[~~~^~~~]

Joe:

The industry has not gone crazy with capacity as they have in years past. The NWA/DAL merger was not going to reduce capacity much. Most of the deal revolved around the ability to put Delta's good domestic and European/African/Middle East system with NorthWest's fleet, Asian system and pilots.

Open skies is another version of deregulation, on a Global scale. DAL/NWA was not your typical airline meger in as much as this was about getting in position for growth with the belief that we can connect the World (at least our part) better than BAL/AAL, Singapore, the Virgins, or Emirates.

Sure AirTran is running out of places to put 737's, but this expansion has limits which are more constrained by the cost of fuel. There is no such thing as a low cost carrier now, it is all high cost.

If Delta could get 50 777's and 1,500 pilots to fly them today, they probably would. I expect NWA is thinking the same thing with their 787's. A partnership between the two would provide the monetary resources to acquire the needed fleet and the people to get the job done.

Delta's international operations now bring in more cash in foriegn currencies than they do Dollars. Pricing power, sure, but when your costs are in Dollars and your revenues in Euros you enjoy a cost advantage as well.

 

[120% Torque]

I cant fault the Northwest guys for trying to get a good position in all this. Every person whos livelihood is on the line would try as well. My personal belief is there was just too much prior baggage from the Republic deal. Im sure that topic has been hashed and rehashed a million times by those directly affected for twenty years.

After that turmoil a pilot at Northwest would go into any new deal saying "never again, this time around we will clearly bargain to be on top". Really cant blame them. Its only human after having the perception of being screwed on a merger once. Kind of like trying to date a woman who has dated alot of guys who didnt treat her well. When you start dating her, in her mind you are guilty of being one of those guys until some point down the road when you can prove yourself otherwise. The Delta pilots (woman in this example) approached this potential merger with the same skepticism and prior hurt as that women. Poor analogy maybe but you get the idea. Not saying it was all Northwest pilots fault this didnt go through but I think their agenda was a little more aggresive to prevent "being screwed again" than was the Delta pilots. Just my two cents for what its worth. I have a feeling there will be some who dont agree with this and wont even think about what I just said before they jump into action about how it was the Delta pilots fault and Northwest guys were completely reasonable. Hopefully I am wrong.

Shame the pilots couldnt find middle ground. Would have been a very dominant global airline with what I am told lots of growth.

 

[Fly4hire]

Shame the pilots couldnt find middle ground. Would have been a very dominant global airline with what I am told lots of growth.

Me thinks this is far from over. 1st inning, and it's 0/0......