GL credibility in question

[BILL LUMBERG]

Pave's just another guy who didnt get the call.....nothing to see here

 

[pave driver]

One time charges are excluded from our profit sharing formula. In fact, our ps is more correctly called pre-tax income sharing. Looks like we may break 15% of w-2 for this year, which means I'm effectively getting paid 177.67 per hour for 2014, not to mention another 15% to my 401k, no match required. Not sure why you think we've peaked. Our debt is way down and going lower, and our retirements are really just getting started. You AA guys really should look into the profit sharing thing.

Of course you aren't really interested in facts that don't fit your "delta sucks" opinion, so enjoy yourself.

I do indeed think Delta sucks but for other reasons - sorry to my Delta bros. Um, well, one needs only look at future debt obligations, retirement schedules of all big 3 to make an informed decision of where to go. Oh no, I've said too much. You guys are awesome at Delta! On the other hand, have you ever jumpseated on American, United and Delta to get a glims of what it would be like to work at one of the big 3? Have you ever thought to look at the OLD aircraft Delta has and compare it to the other legacies? Have you looked at the future debt obligations at the big 3 have? Have you researched the retirement numbers at all the big 3? Well, any new prospective pilot should. With that information they should make an informed descision.

 

[nwaf16dude]

I have jumpseated on most of the majors, and the truth is we're all about the same. I was a northwest guy, so I heard the same stuff about delta, and I can tell you without a doubt that the delta cockpit is a great place to work. Of course, we all have our outliers, but 99% of the guys are great. Anyone getting hired right now at the big three is in good shape. I can give good reasons to avoid any of the big three, but there are more pros than cons for either. I'm too disinterested to bother to list them.

The "your airline sucks" bit is tired, but I guess these boards thrive on that stuff, so carry on.

 

[pave driver]

Pave's just another guy who didnt get the call.....nothing to see here

I have never applied to Delta. I have been hired by every company I've applied to including the ANG, I am a Daedalian. Nice try though.

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

No, you are a tool.

 

[pave driver]

I have jumpseated on most of the majors, and the truth is we're all about the same. I was a northwest guy, so I heard the same stuff about delta, and I can tell you without a doubt that the delta cockpit is a great place to work. Of course, we all have our outliers, but 99% of the guys are great. Anyone getting hired right now at the big three is in good shape. I can give good reasons to avoid any of the big three, but there are more pros than cons for either. I'm too disinterested to bother to list them.

The "your airline sucks" bit is tired, but I guess these boards thrive on that stuff, so carry on.

If Northwest still existed, it would have been my first choice! You guys are top-notch. Delta, not so much.

 

[nwaf16dude]

Compared to Delta, Northwest was a miserable place to work. Lots of bitterness left over from previous mergers. No nostalgia for the red tail from me.

 

[pave driver]

Compared to Delta, Northwest was a miserable place to work. Lots of bitterness left over from previous mergers. No nostalgia for the red tail from me.

You had several far superior contract items and I can easily pick out a former Northwest pilot. Northwest management had a chance to make a great working environment but the times dictated otherwise. RIP Northwest, you will be sincerely missed.

 

[General Lee]

Wow, Pave Driver is extremely jealous, and obviously has a low IQ. He pulls up three articles from the past, and doesn't even look at the latest Quarterly conference call from Delta. Most everything he stated was outdated, including the "Ruggles" guy who did hedge in 2011, but was then replaced.

Via "Seeking Alpha", here is pertinent info from Q3 about hedging, cash on hand, and debt reduction from Paul Jacobson, the DL CFO:


"The refinery made a $19 million profit for the quarter which lowered our fuel price by $0.02 per gallon. The refinery?s profit represents a $16 million improvement over the same period last year. A key driver of the profitability was our domestic crude initiative as we processed 100,000 barrels per day of domestic crude during the quarter. We are on-pace to achieve our goal of averaging 70,000 barrels per day for the full year, which should increase to 100,000 barrels per day in 2015. For the December quarter, we?re expecting to pay $2.69 to $2.74 per gallon for fuel including the refinery and hedge impacts. This includes the projected profit of the refinery of $20 million driven by widening crack spreads. The refinery team is running a great operation and continuous to generate meaningful year-over-year improvements there.

At current crude prices, we?ll have approximately $100 million of hedge losses in the December quarter while our 2015 hedge book is near breakeven with a solid amount of protection at current price levels. Even with these hedge losses, we?ve participated in 80% of the price declines since late June. With the expected December quarter losses, our hedges reduced our overall fuel costs by roughly $160 million for 2014.

Turning to cash, our strong cash generation continued to differentiate us from the industry. This quarter we generated $1.3 billion of operating cash flow and reinvested $411 million into the business primarily related to fleet. In the fourth quarter, we expect to spend $800 million on capital expenditures which will bring our total CapEx to approximately $2.3 billion for the year. With another quarter of solid cash generation ahead of us, we?re on-track to produce $3.5 billion of free cash flow this year. We used that to continue to strengthen the balance sheet and return cash to shareholders with our $910 million of free cash flow during the quarter. Our adjusted net debt is down to $7.4 billion which held lower our interest expense by $60 million versus last year.

We have a clear line of site to achieve our $5 billion adjusted net debt targeted 2016. During the September quarter, we also returned $325 million to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. We paid out $75 million in dividends as we increased our dividend by 50% to $0.09 per share. In addition, we repurchased $250 million in shares during the quarter. Once again I want to thank the entire Delta team for another record breaking quarter. Our performance this quarter and throughout this year shows what we can do when we all work together to drive change and deliver results."





Pave, AA isn't even close when it comes to management (last call "Dougwiser..."), profits, profit sharing, or getting your employee groups to "get along." Yeah, that last one will be fun to watch.....

Quit being so hateful and jealous Pave, and you can still apply for lav dumper at UAL or DL. You suck!



Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[St. Nic]

Pave's just another guy who didnt get the call.....nothing to see here

He didn't need the call because he's a US pilot that is now working for the LARGEST MOST PROFITABLE AIRLINE!!!!

 

[Freebrd]

Quit being so hateful and jealous Pave, and you can still apply for lav dumper at UAL or DL. You suck!



Bye Bye---General Lee

Ahh yes, knew it wouldn't take long for Ms Jenny to bring it down to silly comments. See that Heavyload?

 

[pave driver]

I wish only the best for any new prospective pilot searching for their final destination. I have great mates at United and Delta and the truth is all of the big 3 labor contracts are subpar compared to compensation decades ago. The landscape has changed and I believe the new contracts will get us closer to where we should be. There is obviously more to compensation than just hourly rates. There are just too many details that effect a pilot's quality of life and total pay - they are too numerous to list.

I would like to see a JCBA that contains nothing of the past bankruptcy contracts. Profit sharing was created out of bankruptcies due to low compensation. What would be best, in the long run, is a total contract for APA that exceeds the total of United and Delta. This is not to say simply we are the greatest but to build upon the current foundations and then pass the torch to Delta then United pilots to keep building. If total pay does not have current profit sharing "built in", when times get tough again, and they will, you can kiss the Valentine's Day check good bye. When that happens, and rest assured it will, the other guys will look to the APA contract and will then need to reassess how to negotiate for more.

Will United and Delta negotiate a 16.7% pay increase to "capture" profit sharing compensation? It is unlikely. If you are of the mindset that these profit checks will be sustainable for 10,20,30 years, there would be no need to capture that pay within a pilot contract. I have faith that my union, APA will capture this "profit pay" in our new contract, especially in this brief snapshot in time of high profits so we sustain it when the bad times come yet again. The APA in these final days of building the proposal has an important decision to make - profit check or add it to total compensation. I hope we DO NOT have a separate profit sharing check that can be taken away (and taxed at 42%!) and we have it built in making it very difficult for AAG to take it back down the road. We shall see in the near future what path the APA takes. They know my opinion.

 

[General Lee]

I wish only the best for any new prospective pilot searching for their final destination. I have great mates at United and Delta and the truth is all of the big 3 labor contracts are subpar compared to compensation decades ago. The landscape has changed and I believe the new contracts will get us closer to where we should be. There is obviously more to compensation than just hourly rates. There are just too many details that effect a pilot's quality of life and total pay - they are too numerous to list.

I would like to see a JCBA that contains nothing of the past bankruptcy contracts. Profit sharing was created out of bankruptcies due to low compensation. What would be best, in the long run, is a total contract for APA that exceeds the total of United and Delta. This is not to say simply we are the greatest but to build upon the current foundations and then pass the torch to Delta then United pilots to keep building. If total pay does not have current profit sharing "built in", when times get tough again, and they will, you can kiss the Valentine's Day check good bye. When that happens, and rest assured it will, the other guys will look to the APA contract and will then need to reassess how to negotiate for more.

Will United and Delta negotiate a 16.7% pay increase to "capture" profit sharing compensation? It is unlikely. If you are of the mindset that these profit checks will be sustainable for 10,20,30 years, there would be no need to capture that pay within a pilot contract. I have faith that my union, APA will capture this "profit pay" in our new contract, especially in this brief snapshot in time of high profits so we sustain it when the bad times come yet again. The APA in these final days of building the proposal has an important decision to make - profit check or add it to total compensation. I hope we DO NOT have a separate profit sharing check that can be taken away (and taxed at 42%!) and we have it built in making it very difficult for AAG to take it back down the road. We shall see in the near future what path the APA takes. They know my opinion.

Uhhhhh, Doug just offered you DL plus 5% with no profit sharing. The APA has not taken the deal. The likely scenario (watching how Doug has done NOTHING with regards to pay for the East and West when they didn't play ball) is Doug will just wait until 2016 when your "me too" clause goes into affect, matching DL's. That's great, but still no profit sharing. So, by 2016 you may have DL's rates, but that's it. Parker doesn't want to give you profit sharing, and RA doesn't like it either, but it's in the contract for the pilots and the other employees. But for some reason you think that's bad..... 20% total for this year, and most likely 25% for next if oil stays low. And.....you think that's a bad thing. Btw, DL's contract is up in 2015, and RA hasn't missed an amendable date yet. How about Parker? Ooooops, never mind.... It's called higher base rates PLUS profit sharing.

You saw what RA did with your FA pay negotiations, right? He announced on the day of the vote that the DL FA's would get an extra 4% raise, and your FAs went to Parker and demanded 4% more, and he gave in. Why didn't Parker go higher BEFORE RA announced that? Your FA leader was quoted in an article stating "I think RA is screwing with us." (In a good way for the FAs). That just cost Parker an extra $11 million a year. Your leader doesn't want to give an extra dime, and especially no profit sharing.


Pave, it's not even close. Your arguments are very weak, and profit sharing, on top of high pay rates, are good. And it's tough to negotiate "significantly" higher when DL already is the highest paid legacy, and you guys just went through BK. Hopefully the APA does get a HUGE increase, which would help DL and UAL pilot, but I don't think Doug wants to play along.




Bye Bye---General Lee

 

[pave driver]

Parker now must negotiate and deal with the APA. This is in stark contrast to the last USAPA bafoons and there is not one iota of similarity. I hope we don't have profit sharing and it's built into our pay for the long haul. We have so many short timers here that may cause them to act for their own best interests and just ask to take what they can get now without looking down the road for the young pilots.

I hope the BOD will not send this out to vote as the old guys will not look down the road very far. Either way, it will get very interesting in the near future. Parker is set on world domination and wants this behind us. What's the best way to shut up a pilot group? Throw a bunch of money our way. Will it be enough?

 

[dollacrackho]

Were you just trying to get him to hit 20000? Yay for you. Did flight info spring for confetti and balloons and a cake?

 

[BILL LUMBERG]

He didn't need the call because he's a US pilot that is now working for the LARGEST MOST PROFITABLE AIRLINE!!!!

Let me fix that for you....

LARGEST DEBT LOAD AIRLINE.....

You are like the Bush economy...taking credit for war time purchases. All you have done is paint a few jets and switch some gates around. Not much else....anybody can be the LARGEST when you combine results without doing much else.

St. Nic, you and pave can let us know how big your weiners are when the economy turns and you are right in the middle of trying to mash your two airlines together.

I wish your airline the best...I really do....very happy being a more profitable little small airline.

 

[pave driver]

Let me fix that for you....

LARGEST DEBT LOAD AIRLINE.....

You are like the Bush economy...taking credit for war time purchases. All you have done is paint a few jets and switch some gates around. Not much else....anybody can be the LARGEST when you combine results without doing much else.

St. Nic, you and pave can let us know how big your weiners are when the economy turns and you are right in the middle of trying to mash your two airlines together.

I wish your airline the best...I really do....very happy being a more profitable little small airline.

We are at the same position in the process of merging in a short 2 years as Delta was 5 1/2 years after merging with Northwest. It is a ginormous benefit to be the last of the big 3 megamergers. Soon we will surpass every Delta metric including employee compensation. This will help Delta employees raise their game and employee compensation. Competition is good for all big 3 employee groups.

 

[pave driver]

Uhhhhh, Doug just offered you DL plus 5% with no profit sharing. The APA has not taken the deal. The likely scenario (watching how Doug has done NOTHING with regards to pay for the East and West when they didn't play ball) is Doug will just wait until 2016 when your "me too" clause goes into affect, matching DL's. That's great, but still no profit sharing. So, by 2016 you may have DL's rates, but that's it. Parker doesn't want to give you profit sharing, and RA doesn't like it either, but it's in the contract for the pilots and the other employees. But for some reason you think that's bad..... 20% total for this year, and most likely 25% for next if oil stays low. And.....you think that's a bad thing. Btw, DL's contract is up in 2015, and RA hasn't missed an amendable date yet. How about Parker? Ooooops, never mind.... It's called higher base rates PLUS profit sharing.

You saw what RA did with your FA pay negotiations, right? He announced on the day of the vote that the DL FA's would get an extra 4% raise, and your FAs went to Parker and demanded 4% more, and he gave in. Why didn't Parker go higher BEFORE RA announced that? Your FA leader was quoted in an article stating "I think RA is screwing with us." (In a good way for the FAs). That just cost Parker an extra $11 million a year. Your leader doesn't want to give an extra dime, and especially no profit sharing.


Pave, it's not even close. Your arguments are very weak, and profit sharing, on top of high pay rates, are good. And it's tough to negotiate "significantly" higher when DL already is the highest paid legacy, and you guys just went through BK. Hopefully the APA does get a HUGE increase, which would help DL and UAL pilot, but I don't think Doug wants to play along.




Bye Bye---General Lee

Actually it was 18 million more in compensation for our FAs with just one phone call from Ms. Glading. It was not, as you have stated, "on the day of the vote". Please do a little more research before posting. Your credibility in stating false "facts" are tiresome. The current proposal from AAG to APA is Delta plus 12% now. I hope APA turns it down - it's not enough. We'll see in the near future where this goes.

 

[St. Nic]

We are at the same position in the process of merging in a short 2 years as Delta was 5 1/2 years after merging with Northwest. It is a ginormous benefit to be the last of the big 3 megamergers. Soon we will surpass every Delta metric including employee compensation. This will help Delta employees raise their game and employee compensation. Competition is good for all big 3 employee groups.

Amen my APA brother!!! Well said! Delta is a distant third and ATL is under attck by SWA. They are getting squeezed hard and once we get full senergies we will set the course for the rest of the industry. Can you say parity +1%?!?!?!

 

[pave driver]

Amen my APA brother!!! Well said! Delta is a distant third and ATL is under attck by SWA. They are getting squeezed hard and once we get full senergies we will set the course for the rest of the industry. Can you say parity +1%?!?!?!

Correct again! Very soon, AAG will unleash on Delta's main hub, Atlanta. American is going to start flying from all 10 hubs into Atlanta on a daily basis at a high frequency. Mmmm...it's gonna get good my brotha.