Airtran 717s to fly for Delta?

[BR715]

First it was welcome to the family and now it's hope you have some ironclad language and contract. You people are unbelievable.

 

[texman]

First it was welcome to the family and now it's hope you have some ironclad language and contract. You people are unbelievable.

Brother we don't even know if it is true or not. I had a great conversation with a AT captain and the Delta/717 option was brought up to me. He asked if this went down what I thought. I said well the planes go and you guys come over here. He said that in your (AT) contract you have a fragmentation clause that is in your CBA, SWA has to honor. The cool thing, if I was in your shoes would be I have a option to going to two great carriers. The people I have encountered from AT are great. I see you guys having a better time over at SWA. I actually want to bid the 717. It would be fun to fly. We are pilots and can not control what the MGT does with the airplanes.

What I see happening is the 717 goes to Delta and we take their 737-800 orders and you guys get over here quicker.

 

[C601]

.... only so much you can say on a public forum.


Yes that "meeting" did take place and I am a horrible story teller, but I was right as mentioned a few weeks ago that SW would not keep the 717s.

 

[StopNTSing]

What texman said...

Everybody just chill out! The fAT guys aren't going anywhere, regardless of what happens to those pesky 717s. If they're going to Delta, it will probably involve a swap with future (and maybe some current) Delta 737s. Just like the 717s weren't all coming to SWA overnight, they won't be going elsewhere overnight either.

 

[ASADFW7]

As just a line pilot, I too think nothing happens overnight. I wouldn't put a lot of hope either way into rumors. The Airtran pilots are SWA pilots on our seniority list. We voted and signed it.

 

[cocknbull]

If I was an AirTran 717 guy I would hope for Delta. I mean seeing how Delta would just offer relative seniority, over half of these guys would be Captains or senior FOs. Vince Garland, Delta Captain... Has a nice ring to it. Hire date 1993. Seniority number 2. Sound good General?

Relative seniority for relative company. Air Tran is not relative to Delta.

 

[DonVerita]

The point that seems to be missing in this discussion is - the protection of ATN 717 Captain seats.

The Transition Bid sorted out who was going where. For the 737 CA's (which was the group that got hosed the most), they could bid to go to SWA F/O and be on SWAPA contract once they got there - or - they could bid to stay on the ATN side of the partition as 717 CA's and when they go to SWA, they would go with the plane and retain their CA seat. SWA pay would kick in on 1-1-2015, but their seat was protected an no SWA pilot could kick them out of it. The only way a SWA pilot could get on the 717 at all would be through a vacancy. Truth be told, a lot of guys bid this way to protect their CA seats indefinately. Their bid award says TBA 717 CA. "TBA" means base assignment. SWA had already come out with a Tampa base announcement for sometime in 2014. So when guys bid in the Transition Bid, they were bidding (and awarded) a 717 CA seat (98% were already holding CA on the 717 or 737) with the base to be in either ATL or TPA. People made critical family and financial decisions based on this information.

There are two questions here:

1. If the 717's go to Delta and the pilots go with them (it would take a large transfer rate for that to happen by the way), do those 717 CA's get DOH or better and hold their CA seats on the 717 when they get to Delta?

2. If the 717's go to Delta but the pilots go to SWA as originally planned, how are those 717 CA seats protected over at SWA since those pilots bid for, and were awarded, CA seats?

The ATN pilots have been through enough of an upheaval with this SLI. There is no reason why a 717 CA should all of a sudden now lose his CA seat after it was already awarded to him, just because Management has another mood swing regarding the 717.

 

[Crash Pad]

I was wondering how long it would take someone to figure out the Captain seats.

 

[Max Powers]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[Cometman]

The point that seems to be missing in this discussion is - the protection of ATN 717 Captain seats.

The ATN pilots have been through enough of an upheaval with this SLI. There is no reason why a 717 CA should all of a sudden now lose his CA seat after it was already awarded to him, just because Management has another mood swing regarding the 717.

That is life son. Nothing is forever. If the 717 goes so does the seat. You hold what you can hold on the 737. If you think you will automatically go to the SWA side and keep the seat you are dreaming. What you are saying is, if that happens you would be entitled to the seat for the rest of your career. It will never happen. The only thing that is a guarantee is DEATH. And that will be forever.

 

[On Your Six]

Brother we don't even know if it is true or not. I had a great conversation with a AT captain and the Delta/717 option was brought up to me. He asked if this went down what I thought. I said well the planes go and you guys come over here. He said that in your (AT) contract you have a fragmentation clause that is in your CBA, SWA has to honor. The cool thing, if I was in your shoes would be I have a option to going to two great carriers. The people I have encountered from AT are great. I see you guys having a better time over at SWA. I actually want to bid the 717. It would be fun to fly. We are pilots and can not control what the MGT does with the airplanes.

What I see happening is the 717 goes to Delta and we take their 737-800 orders and you guys get over here quicker.

Sorry, there is no way we would take 88 planes at once. It would probably be
metered out to allow SWA to get replacements, and us to train our own pilots, mechanics, and FA's. Also, the MD88/90s are probably going to get all glass cockpits, maybe to make it easier for the FAA to sign off on cross fleeting so pilots can fly all 3.

The SWA pilots on here are worried about zero growth if the new 737s comingonly replace the 717s. That is why some seem to be willing to throw you to the curb as fast as they can. They want the upgrade sooner. Didn't you guys get SOC already?



FAA gives single operating certificate to Southwest, AirTran

Certificate allows carriers to operate as one

By M.J.Subria Aruiaz Friday, March 2nd, 2012
© Copyright 2012 Clayton News Daily



Southwest and Air Tran moved another step toward functioning as a single airline Thursday. The Federal Aviation Administration approved a single operating certificate for the carriers, which marks an important milestone for the integration of both airlines.


Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins said passengers will start to see the conversion of the AirTran fleet into a Southwest fleet, which include changing the paint scheme and interior configuration on planes and serving more cities.

The complex transition to a single ticketing system for the carriers is expected to be completed by 2015, Hawkins said. “Basically, for the customer there is no difference,” he said. “It means for us internally that we have a [go-ahead] from Uncle Sam to pull all these partitions [together].”

FAA, Southwest and AirTran addressed a couple of regulatory changes on Thursday, including that the Southwest Airlines air carrier operating certificate will be amended to read, “Southwest Airlines Co. and/or AirTran Airways Inc.,” and that both airlines will operate under one set of FAA operations specifications, he said.

“We are moving toward where Southwest and AirTran will be connecting their networks,” he said.According to Southwest officials, this means passengers will be able to book a flight with Southwest and a connecting flight with AirTran, or vice versa. “Creating more combinations until all planes will sport the Southwest livery,” added Hawkins.

For now, said officials, AirTran will begin round-trip flights from Hartsfield-Jackson to Mexico City on May 24. He said in anticipation of receiving the single operating certificate, Southwest recently announced two daily non-stop flights between Atlanta and San Francisco starting on Sept. 30, which will change from an AirTran to a Southwest route.

Southwest, said Hawkins, has also started to change AirTran aircraft. He said that started on Feb. 24 and “it’s about a 40-day process.”
He said the conversion includes painting, interior and avionics. The aircraft is currently in Seattle and is being worked on by a third-party vendor, he said.

The aircraft will have features such as leather seating and a satellite-enabled Wi-Fi, which is currently being offered at an introductory rate of $5, he said. This will allow passengers to use Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
“It’s a definite higher bandwidth, which allows us to offer Wi-Fi connectivity over water,” said Hawkins. AirTran provides Wi-Fi through their partnership with Gogo, according to AirTran’s website,


Southwest currently offers 15 non-stop flights to five cities from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The cities and flights include: Four daily round trips to Baltimore,and Chicago; three daily trips to Houston; and two daily trips to Denver and Austin, Texas — a destination previously not served by AirTran.

On March 10, Southwest will start two more non-stop flights to and from Hartsfield-Jackson: to Las Vegas and Phoenix. The airline will offer one-way fares for $109 for both destinations until April 7.
A daily non-stop flight to Los Angeles will begin on June 10, at Hartsfield-Jackson. This is an addition to the three daily flights already operated by AirTran.

Thom McDaniel, president of Southwest Airlines Flight Attendants Union, said AirTran flight attendants will soon transition to Southwest, due to the single-operation certificate. “As we move forward, we are excited about combining our work forces, with special attention to preserve the legendary culture of Southwest,” he said.



That last sentence says it all. Tears in my eyes! Good for you guys.



Godspeed!


The OYSter

 

[SLUF4]

Only two people in this world have a 717 type rating. All that fly the 717 now and before have a DC-9 type.

who are the lucky two?

 

[On Your Six]

Sorry, duplicate post.

 

[gobyebye]

Before, the Delta people I know said we should have given Airtran guys relative seniority and we screwed them over big time. Now, one mention of them going to Delta and the backpeddling begins. Classic.

 

[DonVerita]

That is life son. Nothing is forever. If the 717 goes so does the seat. You hold what you can hold on the 737. If you think you will automatically go to the SWA side and keep the seat you are dreaming. What you are saying is, if that happens you would be entitled to the seat for the rest of your career. It will never happen. The only thing that is a guarantee is DEATH. And that will be forever.

Well son...if the SLI had been done with fair and equitable adhered to, as was written, then "you hold what you can hold on the 737" wouldn't be so much of an an issue now would it? But since we had all of our 737 CA seats stolen from us and had a large chunk of our global seniority taken as well, all while a gun was being pointed at our heads, it's not as easy of a picture to paint as you portray it to be.