Delta 717's

[General Lee]

Cmon General....U r giving us a bad name......

That's ridiculous. Read my response again you quoted. That was nice.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[redflyer65]

Yeah, and deferring 30 738s also saved you money. Maybe shrinking is in your future because you aren't the Low Cost Leader anymore? JK just restarted the save $5 a day program that Herb introduced 20 years ago. Hopefully they won't extend that into your new contract talks. Good luck with the cost saving efforts.


Bye Bye---General Lee

You mean deferring 30 737-800s to become 800 Max's while saving ONE BILLION in capital expenditures? Yea, that works for me, plus you helping us save 300 million on the bottom line right now. Thanks brother.

 

[General Lee]

You mean deferring 30 737-800s to become 800 Max's while saving ONE BILLION in capital expenditures? Yea, that works for me, plus you helping us save 300 million on the bottom line right now. Thanks brother.

Your management still has cash left over after you guys paid for your training, so that's good. While you wait years for the 738 Max, you continue to use older 733s and 735s, which probably doesn't help cutting costs. At least those 717 guys get free 737 types, something your company is not used to paying for. Good luck!


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Whataburger]

Your management still has cash left over after you guys paid for your training, so that's good. While you wait years for the 738 Max, you continue to use older 733s and 735s, which probably doesn't help cutting costs. At least those 717 guys get free 737 types, something your company is not used to paying for. Good luck!


Bye Bye---General Lee

How 'new' are your 100+ MD88's?

We have 20 -500's.
We have 140 -300's.
We have 400 -700/-800's.

BTW, the FO's flying the -500 make more money than most of your Heavy Captains.

I am pretty sure Gary made financial accomodations for the prior AirTran pilots that will need a type in a few years when they upgrade.

BTW, we've made money EVERY YEAR since 1975. Yall went BANKRUPT a couple years ago. I think we have an okay pulse on how to operate our company. I bet your West Texas accountant wife agrees.

 

[redflyer65]

Your management still has cash left over after you guys paid for your training, so that's good. While you wait years for the 738 Max, you continue to use older 733s and 735s, which probably doesn't help cutting costs. At least those 717 guys get free 737 types, something your company is not used to paying for. Good luck!


Bye Bye---General Lee

This part is great, coming from a company that has operated DC-9s for years, only because they were paid off. Now the shoe is on the other foot but we must not know what we are doing? I'll venture out here and say that even are 300s (that were built in the 80's vs the 60's) are a little more fuel effiecent than the 9's.

Nice spin General, but this turd doesn't float. Just like many of your post.

 

[General Lee]

Red,

The MD90s and MD88s are newer than your old 733s and 735s. The 17 remaining DC9s are already scheduled on the way out, before the batch of 738s you deferred are scheduled to be delivered to you. So, the remaining 17 DC9s are less efficient than ALL of your old 737s? Really? NOT....... You lose, again.

And you are right, GK has saved up for the AT pilots' types by not giving them parity with your pay. Not even the 737 guys, flying the same plane. That makes them happy, and feel the LUV, right? You don't care about them obviously. It will be interesting to see them as your Captain one day soon. Fun times.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[Whataburger]

Red,

It will be interesting to see them as your Captain one day soon. Fun times.


Bye Bye---General Lee

Do your JR Captains get 16 days off a month on Reserve and get 90 credits?

 

[redflyer65]

General,

You do understand that this is almost 2013 and NW/DL are still flying around old DC-9s right? I agree that they should be on there way out....like 10 years ago.

It wasn't that long ago that you guys had OVER 100 of those gas guzzling airplanes. The point is, they elected to keep them longer before they were PAID FOR. With me so far? That's what we are doing. Same thing.....with the caveat that the -300s are much more fuel effecient than an the almost straight jet DC9. The 300s still have a realitively high bypass engine, the 9s...not so much.

So we made the same decision you guys did for the past 10 years. Very simple.

I'm confused about were we where talking about Airtran pilots. It's over. The votes are in. For some reason you like to bring it up like its some talking point. Should I start talking about the DL pension obligation? Of course not, we aren't even discussing that. More spin, more spin.

Nice try General.

 

[dicko]

.

I'm confused about were we where talking about Airtran pilots. It's over. The votes are in. For some reason you like to bring it up like its some talking point. Should I start talking about the DL pension obligation? Of course not, we aren't even discussing that.

Most people feel that SWAPA pilots and SWA should be embarrassed by the coerced vote and the B Scale. People bring it up because it's really hard to believe that they're not ashamed by it.

The General brings it up because he knows it makes you a little uncomfortable deep inside. He knows you worry subconciously about the karmic results.

 

[redflyer65]

Most people feel that SWAPA pilots and SWA should be embarrassed by the coerced vote and the B Scale. People bring it up because it's really hard to believe that they're not ashamed by it.

The General brings it up because he knows it makes you a little uncomfortable deep inside. He knows you worry subconciously about the karmic results.

Dicko,

I hear what your saying, and No it doesn't bother me inside at all. There was enough arm twisting on both sides to go around. Our union put a gun to our head too. They kept constantly (yes, constantly) telling us that we HAD to vote YES to keep from going to arbitration. PS - I wasn't scared of arbitration one bit.

So as bad as you guys have it, we saw the same coercion on this side to pass the deal. You may not know about that, or even care. And that's cool. I do hear what your saying on that side and I empathize, sincerely.

We didn't have money pulled out of our deal like you did. But some on the SW side got moved down the seniority list from the first deal.

In the end, it's over. Done. You can bitch and grip forever. It's not going to change a damn thing.

General brings it up because that's all he has to bitch about. He wanted to see it go to arbitration with a complete knock down drag out. It didn't happen, so he uses it as a talking point. EVEN THOUGH WE AREN'T TALKING ABOUT IT.

I prefer to stay directly on topic if at all possible. I'm not perfect, but I try hard to stay on the topic of the thread.

 

[Terp737]

Quick google check shows average delta acft is 16 yrs, avg swa acft is 12. I don't think getting rid of the dc9 will have a big impact on that number.

 

[General Lee]

How 'new' are your 100+ MD88's?

We have 20 -500's.
We have 140 -300's.
We have 400 -700/-800's.

BTW, the FO's flying the -500 make more money than most of your Heavy Captains.

I am pretty sure Gary made financial accomodations for the prior AirTran pilots that will need a type in a few years when they upgrade.

BTW, we've made money EVERY YEAR since 1975. Yall went BANKRUPT a couple years ago. I think we have an okay pulse on how to operate our company. I bet your West Texas accountant wife agrees.

Most of your FOs make more than DL heavy Captains? GIVE ME A BREAK.... You have no clue what the heavy Captains do, if they get Greenslips, etc. And they don't have to do intra Texas crap and 5 legs a day like your -500 FOs. Sorry, your BS Flag just went way up.

And I am glad you made money so many years, but now you aren't making as much, and ancillary revenue is the name of the game. Ask your pole dancing wife about making extra cash, she will agree.


Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[General Lee]

Do your JR Captains get 16 days off a month on Reserve and get 90 credits?

Junior Captains at DL will be senior Captains before most of your FOs upgrade these days. Thanks to your AT merger, the stagnation at your company for most FOs has increased. DL seems to have busy times in waves, mainly Summer and Holidays obviously. So, during the Summer most fly a lot. During the slow periods they get a lot more than 16 days off. As far as 90 credits go, I don't know how that computes against the DL min hours, but during the slow months, 72 hours pay is min (up from 70), and during busy months the min is 78 hours (but it can be higher). The difference is people can bid UP to larger planes and make more. Someone junior on the A330 as a Captain might be able to also be junior on the 744. They pay a lot more than your 737s. And with HUGE retirements coming, people will be climbing the ladder fast, whereas you and Red will still be doing 5 legs to Harlingen, while senior AT guys eventually beat you to the left seat.



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[waveflyer]

Are we really still doing this mine is better than your thing w/ GL-?

Hey GL, glad you like it there- I like it at Swa- hope it works out for all-
I have zero problems w/ the delta career- I hate how DALPA sells out scope for a biscuit-
Bu delta is still the best legacy to work for. If that's your thing, great. It's not mine- you'd have to pay me double Swa pay to get close to worth it-
As for stagnation, hasnt delta been stagnant for the last 10+ years?
All pilots deserve some growth after the last decade- stop selling out scope and some might be heading your way- hope it will at Swa too, but we'd have to be stagnant another 8 years before we catch up to delta in that area-

Swa is a much better airline FOR ME.

Is that alright GL? Can Swa be better for me without you taking it personally and applying your opinion? Bc I don't care that delta is better for you. Sounds like you're happy. Man- two happy pilots, happy with their employer- .... Very lucky to find the good match, bc a relative few can say that-
Be grateful and shut up about comparing- its meaningless

 

[General Lee]

General,

You do understand that this is almost 2013 and NW/DL are still flying around old DC-9s right? I agree that they should be on there way out....like 10 years ago.

It wasn't that long ago that you guys had OVER 100 of those gas guzzling airplanes. The point is, they elected to keep them longer before they were PAID FOR. With me so far? That's what we are doing. Same thing.....with the caveat that the -300s are much more fuel effecient than an the almost straight jet DC9. The 300s still have a realitively high bypass engine, the 9s...not so much.

So we made the same decision you guys did for the past 10 years. Very simple.

I'm confused about were we where talking about Airtran pilots. It's over. The votes are in. For some reason you like to bring it up like its some talking point. Should I start talking about the DL pension obligation? Of course not, we aren't even discussing that. More spin, more spin.

Nice try General.

The votes are in, but the anger is still out there, by almost EVERY AT pilot. They got the shaft. You see, a SUCCESSFUL integration includes a joint contract FIRST, with equal pay for equal planes. Then, an SLI is determined. Had you gone that route first, you may have taken the sting out of a more favorable integration for YOU GUYS, but instead you and your management gave them a poop sandwich.

You can go ahead and talk about the pension obligation. As long as you have enough cash flow on hand, you can carry that for YEARS. That is known by everyone. The key here is to service the debt (currently being done, $18 billion down to $10 billion in 4 years), and then address that obligation. If you make enough revenue to cover the obligation, then you are fine. If you make an EXTRA $2.5 billion per year in ancillary revenue (bag and ticket change fees), then you can probably cover the obligation. I believe I read that you and AT made about $1.1 Billion last year in ancillary revenue. Not bad, but $1.4 BILLION LESS than DL, and $4.2 BILLION LESS than UAL. That is significant. If you can carry that much extra cash to pay down debt or pension payments, that's GOOD.

I like that you enjoy talking about the DC9s. Have you ever been on a 777? How about an A330? How about 757s with Dish Network live TV? Talk about more advanced than your old 733s and 735s. Your product hasn't changed, but the range of your planes have. That doesn't sound fun. But you guys are SOOOO advanced. Wait, your reservations computer can't take INTL flights, meaning AT still has to fly to Mexico and the Caribbean. Way to go! Time for you to use all of those profits to invest in better, newer equipment and inflight entertainment. I read that you were even testing live TV in some of your planes. Welcome to the future!


Bye Bye---General Lee