Delta New Hire Class

[GogglesPisano]

I just call the e-mail today. However, I have a class date with CAL as well.

Decisions, decisions....

 

[whymeworry?]

Which carrier will you choose?

Even after two concessionary contracts, I think DALs is better than CALs. What does that tell you?

CAL has hired 1200 pilots in the last 2 yrs. DAL is just beginning.

CAL has 2030 retirements from '06 to '16. That's nearly 1/2 the seniority list retiring. But if the age changes to 65....

Tough call, I'd lean more towards DAL than CAL if I were in your shoes considering the 1200 pilots you'd be hired behind over the past 24 mos if you were to go with CAL.

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

Which carrier will you choose?

Even after two concessionary contracts, I think DALs is better than CALs. What does that tell you?

CAL has hired 1200 pilots in the last 2 yrs. DAL is just beginning.

CAL has 2030 retirements from '06 to '16. That's nearly 1/2 the seniority list retiring. But if the age changes to 65....

Tough call, I'd lean more towards DAL than CAL if I were in your shoes considering the 1200 pilots you'd be hired behind over the past 24 mos if you were to go with CAL.

It does not matter how many were hired anywhere in the last two years.

Looking back is just sour grapes and causes poor decision making due to jealousy.

What matters is what is happening now and in the future.

It may not be easy, but you have to avoid getting caught up in the "what if I had been hired last year" way of thinking. It is counterproductive to making the most out of the rest of your career

 

[GogglesPisano]

They are both dream jobs for me and I don't think I can go wrong with either one. Also, I live within driving distance of NYC so commuting is not an issue.

What matters is career projections for someone hired this year. Contracts can change, pilot demographics can not.

 

[AirMorgan]

Go to the DAL interview if you can. If you don't make it... at least you're on at CAL. If DAL hires you... THEN you have a tough decision. The thing about DAL is they'll tell you if you got the job or not on the first day of the interview. Can't hurt to go.

 

[Scrapdog]

They are both dream jobs for me and I don't think I can go wrong with either one. Also, I live within driving distance of NYC so commuting is not an issue.

What matters is career projections for someone hired this year. Contracts can change, pilot demographics can not.

Goggles - here's my 2 cents. I'm with CAL and glad to be here....while it's certainly not a "dream" job, it's a good job. A dream job for me is blowing sh*t up, going supersonic, yada, yada...but I digress.

In all seriousness, CAL is very strong now, and will be very strong in the future as long as the airline business continues to progress the way it is (barring any helacious events like 9/11, etc). They are continuouly hiring, and will be for the foreseeable future. They just made 22 million in the first quarter (I think DAL just lost 120 million??) and they've been out of bankruptcy for some time now. CAL was just named #1 airline of the year via Forbes and I will say that our customer service is top notch. And in '08, our contract is up for re-negotiation. And that is looking good now as well.

Will DAL probably emerge from BK and do well? Probably. Is CAL already doing well, and continously doing better by the day? You bet. A bird in the hand is better anyday than one in the bush...

 

[General Lee]

Goggles - here's my 2 cents. I'm with CAL and glad to be here....while it's certainly not a "dream" job, it's a good job. A dream job for me is blowing sh*t up, going supersonic, yada, yada...but I digress.

In all seriousness, CAL is very strong now, and will be very strong in the future as long as the airline business continues to progress the way it is (barring any helacious events like 9/11, etc). They are continuouly hiring, and will be for the foreseeable future. They just made 22 million in the first quarter (I think DAL just lost 120 million??) and they've been out of bankruptcy for some time now. CAL was just named #1 airline of the year via Forbes and I will say that our customer service is top notch. And in '08, our contract is up for re-negotiation. And that is looking good now as well.

Will DAL probably emerge from BK and do well? Probably. Is CAL already doing well, and continously doing better by the day? You bet. A bird in the hand is better anyday than one in the bush...

Thanks for that report. Goggles has to think about how many have just gotten on in front of him at CAL too. Delta, which will be very strong getting out (shrank debt from $17 billion to around $7.5 billion) and has a good plan with new leaders, will be growing too. Our fleet plan will not shrink, primarily because we have gotten rid of our older planes (all MD88s just got new leases for $200,000 less per month, so they will stay another 5 years minimum), whereas CAL still will dump the 735s and 733s), and we will be getting new airplanes too, just like CAL. We are in the beginning of a hiring wave, whereas CAL has hired 1200 in the past couple years, which means atleast 1200 more people at Captain before him. Also, you have to think about possible mergers if things go south for the industry again, and the current talk is NWA/DAL getting together, which would keep hubs and make us stronger. From what I have read, if NWA/DL get together, CAL and UAL would get together, and UAL still has $19 billion in debt, and hubs close to each other (IAD and EWR etc). You have to think about that stuff now. CAL bases also leave something to be desired. If he wanted to go West, it would be tough at CAL, wheras DL has options---LA and SLC (Park City is nice apparently).

I still think both airlines are great, and he should be happy he has one in the bag and another to possibly get.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[BID]

30 737s next year starting in Jan 08. 30 737s the following year as well. 25 787s starting in '09. These are firm orders.

It is true you will already have people hired in front of you, but we are still hiring many, just look at the retirement numbers. Plus we have fewer pilots on the seniority list, approx 1000 less than DAL. When you past the 4000 mark, at a company with 4900 pilots, in a year and a half, well that is pretty darn good!

The contract at CAL is awful, but I am confident that will change. Not too many options when it comes to domiciles at CAL, especially if you are a West Coast person. BUT I believe that will change as well.

Good luck with your choice, DAL is a great company and like other airlines there will be a couple of years to get healthy. You just don't want to be at the bottom of the list during the next industry downturn.

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

Thanks for that report. Goggles has to think about how many have just gotten on in front of him at CAL too.

We are in the beginning of a hiring wave, whereas CAL has hired 1200 in the past couple years, which means atleast 1200 more people at Captain before him.

Bye Bye--General Lee

General,

It's not like surfing where you need to catch "the wave" before the other guy. (or 1200)

You have to look at firm orders and options going forward. And how much the airline is likely to grow. I don't know how the growth compares between CAL and DAL. But that is what I would focus on. Not the 1200.

Also, age 65 or not there are a ton of old dudes at CAL and very few at DAL. There will be more retirements at CAL.

Those who have been hired before you means nothing for your upgrade to widebody or Captain, by itself.

I'll say it again...Those who have been hired before you means nothing by itself.

Unless....it makes you feel like less of a man to be hired after someone else or like a rock star to be at the beginning....then I guess it does.

At DAL there are hundreds of mil leave dudes that will come in on top of you at some point before Captain. Not so at CAL.

Am I right in assuming you will beat up this post because I don't declare DAL the only true path to righteousness? Go ahead, I'm ready.

Regards,

FBJ

 

[TankerPuke]

I hear new hires are getting NYC and ATL on the Mad Dog...how bout seniority in SLC? Junior jet is still MD88 in SLC? Any new hires already moving in to SLC? So...SLC??? Good article about Delta on Yahoo finance today...

PUKE uke: