Delta's taking the path of Pan Am by trying to become a long-haul carrier

[General Lee]

There might be a fairly large pullout, maybe only leaving service to ATL, CVG and JFK for INTL departures. I don't really know, but those ASA airplanes may be used somewhere else. We shall see soon.....???


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[drag]

I'd bet on a major pullout from DFW. The equipment could be transferd to East Coast markets. DFW is the weak link in the DAL system. I'd guess on some growth out of ATL, DCA, LGA, JFK, and BOS. PHL could also be in play. Huge O/D and big international markets. This pending the USair situation.

DAL must grow in 1st class cities. DFW is run by AA. Perhaps a LLC may make some inroads there, but it'll be a nasty fight. CVG and SLC are weak markets. They're ok for connections. BOS, NYC, PHL, DC, and ATL are anchor cities.

 

[Jungle_Jet]

House X,


What? Airtran is kicking our a$$ in ATL? Hmmmmm. OK. Right. What? We still fly to many many more cities from ATL than Airtran does, and those city pairs are not affected at all. Sure, we watch them closely and they are a great competitor, but we have defended ATL well. They have had to branch out to other cities to grow, and they have hurt other carriers as well.

Bye Bye--General Lee

Uh General, I hate to break it to you seeing as how you seem to dislike anyone with more financial understanding than you; but AirTran is kicking your a$$ in ATL in the one area that counts:

The Bottom Line.

I mean have you seen any recent DAL filings? Compared them to AirTran?

Plus, I'm willing to bet that they'd rank much higher then glorious Mother Delta in customer satisfaction surveys. I know they do with people I talk to (biz travellers, the ones that count).

 

[General Lee]

Jungle jet,

Man, you are a financial GENIUS. OF course we are hurting more than they are right now---primarily because we can't raise fares for some reason(the ATA wants labor costs down at all airlines), and we have more airplanes that require more high priced fuel. We have to adjust our costs, and come up with a viable plan---and that is also obvious and being worked on at this moment.

As far as cutomer satisfaction and the "business guy"---Airtran doesn't fly to every city that Delta does, and we have millions more frequent flyers than Airtran does, and I am willing to bet that our INTL Business Elite service is better than Airtran's first class service. Yes, we actually need to get rid of a lot of our front line employees that are old and jaded---that is true. To improve on that aspect, we will need to bring back some youth and spunk....


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[MedFlyer]

Jungle jet,

Yes, we actually need to get rid of a lot of our front line employees that are old and jaded---that is true. To improve on that aspect, we will need to bring back some youth and spunk....


Bye Bye--General Lee

True, but why would anyone with youth and spunk want to work for DL? Falling payscales, reduced benefits and a dying company....I doubt there are a lot of high quality folks who want that.

 

[General Lee]

Medflyer,


Love your "dying company" remark. Funny, I think the AA managment people said the same thing before they got refinancing the next day after they got huge concessions.

But, I can see why you and Fins want us to take huge cuts now, we all can see why. They will come for you next.



Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[DDpaysoff]

I see him dropping some unprofitable areas, but he won't just stop feeding his hubs with mainline aircraft and revert to only RJs---no way. If that happened, then there would be very little businessman feed. I also think that the INTL arena is an area we needed to exploit better, since there is a lack of LCCs on INTL routes.


Bye Bye--General Lee

I met four passengers yesterday that fly us every week to LGA to go to work. Three on one flight even knew each other from taking the flights every week. I had a chance to have a small conversation with all of them, thanking them for their business etc. During the conversation I asked them several questions one was does this flight usually operate on time for you? Three of the people said yes, "usually", I just wish it was an hour earlier. One person on another flight said, it is a direct flight, what more can you ask for?
Business travelers want rewards and frequency. I'm not buying all of the business travelers don't like RJ's talk. Sure they might not like an RJ on DCA to DFW, but who does?

 

[FLB717]

General,

You can keep a lot of those routes that we don't fly. There is a reason we don't, money or the slim margins of it rather. But hey the pie is big enough for us both in ATL. You keep your part and we will see if we cant find some cookies and milk out side of the ol' ATL. Unlike Delta I don't have to fly every dang airport to float my CEO's ego of how great we are or aren't based on the number of destinations we fly or don't fly and the glorious Int'l routes. ATL DAY pays the bills just fine.

 

[KingAirer]

Again, I'll state that the lack of customer service from airlines is the biggest factor driving growth of 135 ops like ours, TSA isn't tthe only reason. People are being asked to ante up absurd amounts of cash for an inferior product, then being treated by the ground staff as if the staffers are doing the customer a favor by even acknowledging their presence.

Again, based on my personal experience and talking to our customers, DL is by far the worst at this, with US coming a close second. Neither I nor the paying customer care whether the reason is that they are understaffed, as someone else offered as an excuse. I'm paying my money, I'd like to be treated as though you give a da_n about me. Most DL ground staffers probably wouldn't pi$$ on you if you were on fire right in front of them, and the other legacies really aren't any better.

Combine that with the fact that I can get them to their destination quicker, without a layover in $hitty CVG or Hartsfield, treat them with respect and do it for LESS then the majors; the writing should be on the wall.

Either change your business dynamics or go the way of Pan Am.

It may be no excuse that they are understaffed when you "paid your money" for the flight, but just how much did you pay? $29 Roundtrip?

 

[General Lee]

FLB717,


Ok, deal. You guys stay with cities like DAY and Moline, and we will concentrate on Aruba, San Jose Costa Rica, Buenos Aires, Rome, and other cites like that. Deal.........(But we can't give up on LGA, DCA, PHL, LAS, LAX, EWR(we would like to give up EWR), ORD, and a few others.....)

Bye Bye--General Lee