Delta Pilots

[Deacon]

bottom line DAL's management has run this company into the ground and are saking the pilots to pick up the mess.........I could list several examples just as an outsider but there isn't enough bandwidth(ie Simplifares,Song, horrible route structure, sitting idle for 4 years, RECORD losses in the BILLIONS/qtr..........................................need more?)

 

[Pan1900]

Frank Lorenzo? Overpaid bus drivers I say. We need to get pilots salaries in line with city bus drivers (or trash collectors if you are a JBLU pilot.)

You would'nt be saying that if your & your families life was on the line with an inflight emergency! You think airplanes get to point A to B by plain luck. It take years of experience, just like a good doctor at a good hosiptal has a better chance of saving your life then a bad hosiptal with an inexperience doctor. Cheapness has a price. Many pilots starting out had to pay their dues spending thousands of dollars in flight school alone never mind college. I still have $60,000 flight school & college debt. Plus, I worked 10 years paying dues by making low income(meaning 30,000$ or less) building up my flying experience, flying for dangerous companies so I could get a $18,000 a year job at a commuter, so I could get a Major airline job 15 yrs later( minus forlough,down economy) & only have 15 years to work before force retirement. At least the Delta pilots are trying to protect whats left in this industry.

 

[Saabslime]

I really feel for what you guys at Delta and NWA are going through and wish you the best possible outcome but the simple fact is there will be no strike(s)
where the outcome would mean liquidation of the company, although I can appreciate the need for publicly taking such a hard-line stance. Deadlines will be extended (look at Delphi), negotiations will continue, and eventually some form of concessions will be accepted. I simply don't believe any one of you would throw away an entire career knowing there will come a day when this firestorm will pass and we can all start working to get back some of the things that make this a great profession. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you should roll over and give up. Just don't throw it all away on emotion.

 

[IXLR8]

Do yourself a favor and get informed, know the facts. Life is tough ... it is tougher when you are stuck on stupid.

Great line!

 

[IronCityBlue]

He gets high Marx for style!

I don't want to tick anyone off, Delta pilots are the cause of my vent but I really need to express how I feel.

I do not blame you guys for what you all are doing but do you guys and gals think you are the only people at Delta? Okay, I’d be upset too if I was a 19yr Pilot on the brink of retirement but what about all the people who are above and below the wing (CS and Ramp), Dispatchers (Everyone in OCC), Maintenance people and Admin? They all have families they have to support like the rest of us, we all had to adjust our life styles due to pay cuts, some people who had to be furloaded as well. WE HAVE SUFFERED MORE than you pilots will ever know or can begin to think! You guys are upset because you have to take a pay cut and won't be able to buy that bigger and faster boat or maybe that new Hummer or BMW that you have been test driving?? But you know what! You still will be making the very least of 80k a year, right?? Gee must be nice to make that much!! You see that you are the only ones who are suffering, every one is and right now you guys are the stupidest pilot group right now, have hear it from TSA pilots, ASA pilots, SkyWest pilot and United guys as well. You see how much of a joke you guys are? I am sorry I do not mean to bash but come on, you guys are not the only ones who run the company, yeah I may be a gate agent but I have a family and kids to support just like you guys. Stop acting like a bunch of grade school kids and forget the strike and take in the butt like everyone else is doing at Delta!!

I also read on the company message board that some said the government will not step in… funny, I think you guys are crazy to think they won't but because you will not only shut down the worlds busiest airport and cause economical havoc but hey okay, strike and be like a bunch of babies and watch what happens to you! Yeah, you can not be forced to work but hey I much rather be flying and adjusting my life style than spend some time in a comfy jail wouldn't you?

OH BTW for people who do not know this, 48% of the Delta pilots are active duty in the military, if they strike, the will lose the pension from the Government too.

So go ahead and bash me and I am sorry you guys hate you’re job so much but you should of quit a long time ago I am sure there are guys at SkyWest, ASA, Mesa, ect who would love to fly a B757, 737 or even a 767 for half the cost of what you guys make but that is the difference between a Delta Pilot and a Regional Pilot (some), a regional loves what they do, a Delta pilots are just greedy!

Funny thing….I do not remember hearing “Strike” at United when they were in Chapter 11th, but that is because they have a Brain, common sense and love there jobs! If they did, I sure missed it.

Again, sorry to bash or hurt feeling. This is what many of US think about you pilots

Hey flyguy, the Communist Party called. They want their rhetoric back.

Nice try Pinko.

 

[Frank Lorenzo]

I still have $60,000 flight school & college debt. Plus, I worked 10 years paying dues by making low income(meaning 30,000$ or less) building up my flying experience, flying for dangerous companies so I could get a $18,000 a year job at a commuter, so I could get a Major airline job 15 yrs later( minus forlough,down economy) & only have 15 years to work before force retirement.

Hey Pan1900, you are quite the investor! You ever heard of the term "ROI?"

Guys like you make uncle Frank sleep well at night. You willing to go tens of thousands of dollars into hock to get on at a job that pays poverty wages, and keeps you away from home 20 days out of the month.

I LOVE YOU MAN!

It's guys like you that give me hope that my lifetime ban from running an airline will be lifted by my buddy George Bush. When I am back in the saddle, I will be specifically targeting guys like YOU for my airline.

Tell ya what. I'll even create a "bridge program" where you pay me $10,000 for "training" and you will get a guaranteed interview with my airline.

You guys crack me up!

 

[hammer2]

Well at least somebody gets the big picture here. Pilots are WAY overpaid. In an era where the planes basically fly themselves, pilots are basically taking up useful load that could be used for lucrative air cargo. Overpaid bus drivers I say. We need to get pilots salaries in line with city bus drivers (or trash collectors if you are a JBLU pilot.)

Additional profits generated by getting rid of the pilots outrageous salaries could end up where they belong - in the executive suite. Face it, the golden age of the overpaid, partying, philandering pilots is over.

I have a few friends I used to work with from ol' Texas Air I'l give a call to. I'll get a team together and we'll get DAL straightened out!

!@#$% you, you !@#$%$!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[COOPERVANE]

this guy needs to keep his mouth shut

I am a regional pilot. You do not speak for me!!!

No one I know at ASA feels the way you speak of. We support the Delta pilots in this fight not ONLY because they are right, but because they are making a stand against Mgmt and that affects ALL pilots.

If everyone rolls over time after time, then our saleries WILL be below the bus drivers or down to your gate agent level.

But then again, I guess that would make you all too happy!!

I am sooo sick of the "I only make 30K a year so everyone else should too" communist argument. Go tell your doctor that your insurance costs too much and he needs a 30% pay cut, sorry about the student loans, this country has changed blah, blah, blah

 

[Flopgut]

I have been playing with a metric. Food for thought:

1 in 4 employees at Airtran is a pilot. 1 in 5 at SWA, and about 1 in 6 at Jetblue.

DAL is about 1 in 6.2, CAL 1 in 7.7, UAL 1 in 7.9.

In light of this data, it is interesting to compare pilot pay/benefits and overall company fundamentals. Airtran and SWA are profitable and offer pilots better pay/benefits than UAL and CAL (or basically, better than any legacy will likely pay if mgts get their way!) Consider as well, legacy pilots work in a much more complicated scope of operations and (arguably) do a harder job.

DAL has come a long way, but they still have too many non-pilot employees. The other legacies are still way off. This is the flying business. Plane and simple.

Flyguy801: There are still too many of your employee type for the pilots to drag along and be profitable. And you still make too much money. If you were being forcefed a 50%+ overall pay/benefitcut, you would be ready to quit as well. Frankly, you don't do your job well either! That could be said for almost all legacy CS workgroups. No legacy has the truly inspired and friendly CS staff of SWA or JB. They make a lesser product look better somehow. If you weren't so listless, disconnected, and arguementative with our customers maybe things would be going better.

Yes, this business has changed. SWA, Airtran and others have found a way to make money. If DAL wants to pattern the success of these companies it would invlove two things: Raise pilot pay, and eliminate your job.

 

[kingairyahoo]

second vote for great line...

Life is tough ... it is tougher when you are stuck on stupid.

 

[Airway]

1)

3) Oh Yes, Believe it or not, a regional pilot would take your job for half what you are making per hour, there are many guy waiting for your job, only problem is that Delta can not train them while under Chapter 11.

Well I'll go git me gun you tell me where these sonsabitches are!

 

[SDF2BUF2MCO]

DAL has come a long way, but they still have too many non-pilot employees. The other legacies are still way off. This is the flying business. Plane and simple.

Yes, but somebody has to fill all those buildings north of the field !

 

[warbirdfinder]

a Delta flight attendant gives a heart-felt response to the recent Boyd Group column. . . .

Let's start with the most offensive:

"A strike is an intentional and focused act that will put DAL out of business" Affecting 40,000 other Delta employees".

#1. Delta's senior management starting with Ron Allen and Leo Mullin did not care about Delta as an airline NOR ANY Delta employee.
They designed and got enormous golden parachutes and cashed every last dime, nickel and penny with NO conscience.

#2. The "40,000 "other employees are in two separate groups. Those that went into management did so knowing that this meant being NON
UNION. Those that did not go into management had the chance to VOTE in a union with lengthy, costly union campaigns funded by TWU,
AFA and the mechanics and agents unions. ALL union votes failed as Delta wages a $1.4 million dollar campaign against AFA with
regard to the flight attendants and several millions of union member dollars given to organize the other Delta employee groups. Delta
intentionally used its long history of trust and integrity to keep loyal employees VULNERABLE to future problems by not having a
contract.

Do NOT place the outcome of these 40,000 employees future on the backs of the Delta ALPA pilots !

" Strike option no longer exists. Strike is a tool to change things for the future". If Delta closes down, there is no future????

#1. A pilot is a pilot is a pilot.!!!!!!! ALPA and PILOT are synonymous. Where does ALPA go as a union
if they do not stand their ground? Where does a Delta pilot go if they do not stand their ground? What possible future will ANY airline
pilot in America have if it is NOT to create change??? Change is part of negotiating and once change is taken out of the equation there
is NO negotiating.

Do NOT place the future outcome of Delta on the backs of the Delta ALPA pilots!!!

" In Delta's financial condition any "major interruption to the airline's revenue stream would torpedo the carrier's future".

So what happens " IF their is another idiot on the airplane with a bomb in his shoe"? So what happens " IF there is another
September 11th"? Or let's make this less scary and say what happens " IF .there are further fuel price increases since Michelle Burns
sold all of Delta's hedges before she left with over $1Million or, God forbid, what happens IF we get yet another round of greedy managers. * !

Do NOT place the blame of the financial condition of Delta on the backs of the Delta ALPA pilots!!!!

" A strike could undermined consumer confidence."

The airline consumer group is a monster group that the aviation advertising companies have created at the behest of the airline's themselves.
One one breakfast flight in first class I had one gentleman who said " I hate Delta I will never fly them again because when you get to me
for breakfast you are always out of eggs and I am switching to American!! The other gentleman on the other side of first class is telling me how much
he loves Delta and hates American and I suggested he get together the million miler that hates Delta and maybe they could "swap" mileage and
they would both be happy for about 15 minutes. The airline consumer does not give a rats ass about anything beyond what he or she gets at
the moment they need it. They will never miss Delta and take any airline that offers them the deal they want at the time they need it.

In addition, I have seen upper management's decisions destroy customer service and affect customer confidence that have left the flight attendants
having to make excuses for Delta's inadequate decisions. The company has also sent us " scripts" of how to handle questions from the consumer
that is basically designed to lie to them and keep them coming back. Consumer confidence is shattered when the 3 PM flight is two hours delayed
while the aircraft is still in the hanger and there is no one to tug it over to the jet way even though the mechanics have known about it for 4 hours.

Do not place the blame of under minding consumer confidence on the backs of the Delta ALPA pilots!!!


I do not know what type of people make up the Boyd Group but I DO know what type of people make up Delta ALPA pilots!

#1. They take their job dead serious and do so without ulterior motives, bonuses and golden parachutes.
#2. They are consummate professionals who can party and have fun with the best of us but when it comes to "flight time" are all business
with no ulterior motives, bonuses and golden parachutes.
#3. They are committed to being union and have given generously of their time to try and educate the " 40,000 " who chose to remain non
union and are now without a legal voice at Delta.
#4. They are committed and involved employees who have given ideas, suggestions for better and more efficient flying.

Perhaps what Delta management, the news industry, fellow employees are seeing is yet another side to the Delta/ALPA pilots that is easy to forget about in the day to day commercial aviation industry.

The aviation industry has long desired to hire military pilots for the higher flight time and experience in war time flying. The military teaches you loyalty " Never leave your wing man" and on the ground " never leave a soldier behind" . They know when to stand up in the face of danger and death and they know how to stick together and fight and they know not to leave others behind. They also know when to draw a line in the sand and make the decision to not cross it. If that results in their loss of life, they accept that. If THIS results in a loss of higher income and adjustments to their families lifestyle etc.....no one doubt that being predominately military, these types of decisions have been made many times before in terms of serving their country and its ultimate affect on their families.

Do NOT blame the Delta ALPA pilots for fighting for what they believe in....they have EARNED it unlike senior management who took obscene amounts of money in a very short time frame. Perhaps senior management should have been made to do 4 years of military service as well!!!!!!!!!!............

 

[Diesel]

flyguy-

Big friggin Wahbulance. You want to compare apples to apples do it. Remember without the pilots the planes don't fly to begin with.

Go be a pilot train train train and get hired with delta if you want to have a say in the matter. Or look in the sunday pages.

 

[stratocoaster]

The letter from a "Tampa reservations agent" sounds more like a letter from management planted in the newspaper than from a typical reservations agent. Has anyone bothered to confirm that DAL actually employs someone named "Mike Maharry"? Objectively speaking, how many of us can count on more than one finger a reservations agent who uses terms like "ad nauseum" and "in toto"? Also, if this guy has a background in business and a degree in accounting, then two things pop to the fore: 1.) Why is he working as a CS at DAL? 2.) How smart is/was he at business if he's only now making $30,000.00/yr. as a CS at DAL? Travel benefits aside?

Okay three things pop to the fore: 3.) With his background, why doesn't he recognize that it is not 7.8% of the workforce that is ruining a venerable company. It is the even smaller percentage (IMHO less than 1%) called "upper level management" who is augering the company in.

These are but 3 items in his essay that negate his argument. The final ridiculous assertion is that any medallion level passenger would agree to a Delta pilot's position if that position jeopardized their elite flying privileges.

Smells like a management-planted letter, premised upon flimsy logic but tainted with blatant emotionalism. But I'm just speculating wildly. It's not like I didn't go to Harvard or anything.

A letter to Delta pilots from Tampa reservations agent

Tue, 04/11/2006 - 4:18pm
By: Letters to the ...
I am a reservations agent in Tampa, Fla., and I thought that it might be beneficial to express to you what many of us on the front lines feel about the pilots’ position regarding a strike.
I don’t write this to attack you in any way, and in fact, I am probably more sympathetic than most of my fellow agents.
I recognize that nobody wants to have their pay cut, and while many of us that make less than $30,000 a year find it difficult to be sympathetic to a work group that averages over $150,000 a year, I recognize that people tend to live up to their means and a cut in pay for anyone is a real and sincere sacrifice.
That being said, I believe that your threat to strike is myopic and self-serving. I have read some of the material on the ALPA Web site and in a number of places the claim is made that Delta is “Our Airline.”
I beg to differ. It is not only “your” airline. There are about 6,000 pilots out of over 47,000 employees. It is as much my airline as it is yours and yet you hold the power to take action that will not only affect you, but 41,000 other people.
I am certain we could have a healthy debate about contracts and fairness, what you have and have not given, what the company has done or not done ad nauseam. I don’t doubt that there is some validity to your position. No side can be completely right in such a matter.
But the bottom line is that this is not the same industry that it was 10 years ago. 9-11, the advent of low-cost carriers, changes in the dynamics of business travel and rising fuel prices, among other things, have altered the dynamics of the industry forever and an airline simply cannot sustain itself with the cost structure it was once able to.
I find it difficult to believe that if you shut down our airline, the people you represent are going to be able to walk out on the street and find jobs making what they would make even if you accept Delta’s concession in toto.
One line in your letter caught my attention: “It is a sad footnote in Delta’s history that in a business where people matter...”
To be blunt, people are not just pilots and as you chart a course forward, I hope you will take into consideration that there are 41,000 of us out here that your decisions will impact; 41,000 of us that have mortgages, kids to feed, cars to pay for and backs to put clothes on.
We have made our own sacrifices, absorbed pay cuts and benefit reductions and we have hung in there because we believe that if we all pull together, we can turn Delta around and bring her back to the great airline she once was.
Quite frankly, we are angry that 7.8 percent of the workforce has power over the rest of us, that 7.8 percent of the workforce has the capacity to send the other 92.2 percent of us to the unemployment line. Since it is OUR airline, perhaps all 47,000 of us should vote as to whether you strike or not.
I think I am pretty typical of most of the front-line Delta employees. I made less than $30,000 last year. I have taken pay and benefit cuts to stay with Delta.
Why? Because I enjoy my job, I enjoy the ability to travel and I have found Delta to be a good company to work for. But, at what I make, I don’t have a cushion. I live pretty much paycheck to paycheck and I am basically up the proverbial creek if that paycheck stops, even for a short time.
I would guess that most of your pilots have the means to handle a temporary period of unemployment, but most of us on the customer service side do not have that luxury. Is your union going to help me pay my rent and child support if you choose to strike and run this airline out of business?
You have complained that you believe that the company views the threat of a strike as “saber rattling” or empty threats, but I get the impression that you believe the claim that a strike would force a liquidation of the company as an idle threat as well.
I have a background in business and a degree in accounting and let me assure you, these are not empty words. Delta Air Lines does not have the resources to survive even a short strike.
If one looks at the situation objectively, one has to conclude that the pilots’ position is based either on ignorance to reality or that you simply do not care what happens to YOUR airline. Either way, it seems pretty foolish from this vantage point.
Finally, I should add that I work in special member services and spend my day talking almost exclusively to medallion level frequent fliers. I talk to between 60 and 100 people a day and I am asked multiple times each day what I think about the possibility of a strike.
In all of the months that this has been going on, I have yet to ever have one passenger state that they support your position. Most are sympathetic, but state the obvious: the industry has changed and you would be foolish to strike.
I don’t expect this to change your mind, or alter your position, but I felt that it was important, as you move forward, to be reminded of the responsibility you have taken upon yourself.
You are not only playing with the lives of the men and women you represent, you are playing with the lives of 41,000 other people, not to mention our passengers, who have entrusted their money and plans to us in the faith that we will get them where they need to go.
There is only one word that can be used for a course of action that would negatively impact so many people in such a profound way: selfish.
I urge you to endeavor to find some solution to this issue short of shutting down the airline. It is simply not the right thing to do.
Mike Maharrey
Tampa, Fla.
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[Diesel]

That's the same crap that we heard from Netjets managment.

Sad thing is they actually got a poster here to play bridgeway bob and post against the pilots all day long.

they also told everyone upstairs that we want the company to shut down.

FUD=Fear Uncertainty and Doubt

By the way as a Plat Medallion member I would love to hear them complain about the pilots to me on the phone.

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

How you guys continue to get this wrong just amazes me. The RJDC is fighting for scope, better scope than we have now.

Scope is currently used as a super C scale to keep pilots away from the coveted mainline jobs. Members of the Delta MEC have said that they see scope as a way to ensure military pilots never have to fly at the Regional level.

Supporters of the RJDC feel that non mainline pilots should be able to participate in scope negotiations within the brand - to stop whipsaw and restore the piloting profession together. This is a position also adopted by ALPA, but not enforced. ALPA simply asks that MEC's get along, rather than stepping in an providing leadership. Without any leadership, or any enforcement of the rules, big MEC's run over small MEC's and the divisions between pilot groups result in what we see around us now.

The Delta pilots are correct to say "No Contract - No Work." However, those who believe that pay should be restored and scope tightened do not understand the economics of the situation. ALPA does understand these economics and has promoted the idea that regional pilots should work for less, sometimes much less, so that the parent company has the cash to pay mainline guys more. If the Delta MEC tries to get a better compensation package for those in the big house they are going to need the DCI slaves down on the plantation. That is the way this all started in Ron Allen's day and ALPA is much more divided now than it was then.

The Northwest pilots tried to bring most of the flying in house and are paying a high price (but not as high a price as the Mesaba pilots whos jobs are being destroyed and given to other ALPA members). The RJDC plays a protective role on the Delta property. If such a thing was attempted involving Comair, or ASA, ALPA is assured that their conduct will be reviewed by the Courts.

EASY JUNIOR..........It's always been Comair...The Delta Connection.......not Delta...The Comair Connection.......you kids keep putting the cart in front of the horse to suit your needs in arguements or when your family comes over for dinner on Holidays.......Keep dreaming AND keep telling everyone you know that you are a Delta pilot when you meet them at parties.

 

[Deuce130]

The letter from a "Tampa reservations agent" sounds more like a letter from management planted in the newspaper than from a typical reservations agent. Has anyone bothered to confirm that DAL actually employs someone named "Mike Maharry"? Objectively speaking, how many of us can count on more than one finger a reservations agent who uses terms like "ad nauseum" and "in toto"? Also, if this guy has a background in business and a degree in accounting, then two things pop to the fore: 1.) Why is he working as a CS at DAL? 2.) How smart is/was he at business if he's only now making $30,000.00/yr. as a CS at DAL? Travel benefits aside?

Okay three things pop to the fore: 3.) With his background, why doesn't he recognize that it is not 7.8% of the workforce that is ruining a venerable company. It is the even smaller percentage (IMHO less than 1%) called "upper level management" who is augering the company in.

These are but 3 items in his essay that negate his argument. The final ridiculous assertion is that any medallion level passenger would agree to a Delta pilot's position if that position jeopardized their elite flying privileges.

Smells like a management-planted letter, premised upon flimsy logic but tainted with blatant emotionalism. But I'm just speculating wildly. It's not like I didn't go to Harvard or anything.

A letter to Delta pilots from Tampa reservations agent

Tue, 04/11/2006 - 4:18pm
By: Letters to the ...
I am a reservations agent in Tampa, Fla., and I thought that it might be beneficial to express to you what many of us on the front lines feel about the pilots’ position regarding a strike.
I don’t write this to attack you in any way, and in fact, I am probably more sympathetic than most of my fellow agents.
I recognize that nobody wants to have their pay cut, and while many of us that make less than $30,000 a year find it difficult to be sympathetic to a work group that averages over $150,000 a year, I recognize that people tend to live up to their means and a cut in pay for anyone is a real and sincere sacrifice.
That being said, I believe that your threat to strike is myopic and self-serving. I have read some of the material on the ALPA Web site and in a number of places the claim is made that Delta is “Our Airline.”
I beg to differ. It is not only “your” airline. There are about 6,000 pilots out of over 47,000 employees. It is as much my airline as it is yours and yet you hold the power to take action that will not only affect you, but 41,000 other people.
I am certain we could have a healthy debate about contracts and fairness, what you have and have not given, what the company has done or not done ad nauseam. I don’t doubt that there is some validity to your position. No side can be completely right in such a matter.
But the bottom line is that this is not the same industry that it was 10 years ago. 9-11, the advent of low-cost carriers, changes in the dynamics of business travel and rising fuel prices, among other things, have altered the dynamics of the industry forever and an airline simply cannot sustain itself with the cost structure it was once able to.
I find it difficult to believe that if you shut down our airline, the people you represent are going to be able to walk out on the street and find jobs making what they would make even if you accept Delta’s concession in toto.
One line in your letter caught my attention: “It is a sad footnote in Delta’s history that in a business where people matter...”
To be blunt, people are not just pilots and as you chart a course forward, I hope you will take into consideration that there are 41,000 of us out here that your decisions will impact; 41,000 of us that have mortgages, kids to feed, cars to pay for and backs to put clothes on.
We have made our own sacrifices, absorbed pay cuts and benefit reductions and we have hung in there because we believe that if we all pull together, we can turn Delta around and bring her back to the great airline she once was.
Quite frankly, we are angry that 7.8 percent of the workforce has power over the rest of us, that 7.8 percent of the workforce has the capacity to send the other 92.2 percent of us to the unemployment line. Since it is OUR airline, perhaps all 47,000 of us should vote as to whether you strike or not.
I think I am pretty typical of most of the front-line Delta employees. I made less than $30,000 last year. I have taken pay and benefit cuts to stay with Delta.
Why? Because I enjoy my job, I enjoy the ability to travel and I have found Delta to be a good company to work for. But, at what I make, I don’t have a cushion. I live pretty much paycheck to paycheck and I am basically up the proverbial creek if that paycheck stops, even for a short time.
I would guess that most of your pilots have the means to handle a temporary period of unemployment, but most of us on the customer service side do not have that luxury. Is your union going to help me pay my rent and child support if you choose to strike and run this airline out of business?
You have complained that you believe that the company views the threat of a strike as “saber rattling” or empty threats, but I get the impression that you believe the claim that a strike would force a liquidation of the company as an idle threat as well.
I have a background in business and a degree in accounting and let me assure you, these are not empty words. Delta Air Lines does not have the resources to survive even a short strike.
If one looks at the situation objectively, one has to conclude that the pilots’ position is based either on ignorance to reality or that you simply do not care what happens to YOUR airline. Either way, it seems pretty foolish from this vantage point.
Finally, I should add that I work in special member services and spend my day talking almost exclusively to medallion level frequent fliers. I talk to between 60 and 100 people a day and I am asked multiple times each day what I think about the possibility of a strike.
In all of the months that this has been going on, I have yet to ever have one passenger state that they support your position. Most are sympathetic, but state the obvious: the industry has changed and you would be foolish to strike.
I don’t expect this to change your mind, or alter your position, but I felt that it was important, as you move forward, to be reminded of the responsibility you have taken upon yourself.
You are not only playing with the lives of the men and women you represent, you are playing with the lives of 41,000 other people, not to mention our passengers, who have entrusted their money and plans to us in the faith that we will get them where they need to go.
There is only one word that can be used for a course of action that would negatively impact so many people in such a profound way: selfish.
I urge you to endeavor to find some solution to this issue short of shutting down the airline. It is simply not the right thing to do.
Mike Maharrey
Tampa, Fla.
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[/quote]

Why do I keep reading about DAL employees writing letters to the pilots begging them not to destroy Delta?? Their freakin' letters should be addressed to management! It ain't the pilots that are going to end the company, it's the guys in suits. Seems pretty simple to me.

 

[Mercyful Fate]

Delta management is getting exactly the reaction they probably were hoping for all along. Most people are going to see "the pilots" as the reason they might go out of business. Shut out the lights, sneak out the back door, and let the pilots take the blame.

 

[stonewall]

I like how this guy managed to throw in "rent" and "child support" and a few other emotional appeals. Doubt it's real. And, c'mon, this guy has to know the level of effort that it takes to become a gate agent vs pilot. It's like asking Brett Favre to take a pay cut b/c the towel guy is only making $20K. That's an analogy, not an elitist rant. Fuc* it, let's all quit and become NYC bus drivers. At least we'll have a pension.