How many Delta Pilots thinking of leaving?

[General Lee]

"stews"---how 80's...

Mookie

Never saw Austin Powers, eh? "Sexy Stews...."

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Mookie]

Austin was from the 60's....yeah...I saw it...a few times... and in no part of any of the three movies did he EVER say "Stews." Nice try.

Are you training to be a "Cage Fighter?" it would explain alot.
Mookie

 

[General Lee]

Austin was from the 60's....yeah...I saw it...a few times... and in no part of any of the three movies did he EVER say "Stews." Nice try.

Are you training to be a "Cage Fighter?" it would explain alot.
Mookie

You are incorrect. I saw it on an original preview for Austin Powers (the original). He woke up on the plane with Liz Hurley and saw some of them and said "Look at the sexy stews.." She told him they were now called Flight Attendants. I then started calling them that (mainly in my head). And, no cage fighting for me. I prefer good debate on this forum.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Mookie]

give me the dvd time and scene number, b/c I just watched that part of the movie (i know, too much time on my hands...) but you are wrong...

have fun with "LaFonduh" in HNL. Also, you might want to check out "Honolulu Hookers" on HBO before you go. food for thought.

Mookie

 

[MemTrash]

Flame bait. 5 total posts. I'm in upgrade training and it just ain't so!

Hey JethrowF15,
I upgraded months ago (not sure why upgrade training matters) and I was just relaying what my ACP told me face to face and what an LCA told me face to face. So, as far as they are concerned it is so.
Now, my information is a week old, so I guess I could be mistaken. After 11 years I've learned things change overnight. If you have something more current I'd love to hear it. I have buddies waiting too.

Not sure what flame bait is but I take it it isn't good?

 

[General Lee]

give me the dvd time and scene number, b/c I just watched that part of the movie (i know, too much time on my hands...) but you are wrong...

have fun with "LaFonduh" in HNL. Also, you might want to check out "Honolulu Hookers" on HBO before you go. food for thought.

Mookie

I'll have to find the DVD time and number, but when I saw it it was on a trailer for the first movie. And you are right, it was not in the subsequent movie, but I laughed out loud when I heard it, and then used it many times afterwards. I am not making it up.

Never heard of "LaFonduh." I have been there a few times on my own and gone to some nice bars and hang outs. I will try to avoid the Honolulu hookers, though. Our six days from ATL have two HNL layovers (within 6 days) and one 24 hour layover in SLC or SFO currently. Aloha.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[hoya saxa]

give me the dvd time and scene number, b/c I just watched that part of the movie (i know, too much time on my hands...) but you are wrong...

have fun with "LaFonduh" in HNL. Also, you might want to check out "Honolulu Hookers" on HBO before you go. food for thought.

Mookie

The General is correct on this one. It was a scene that never made it into the movie (at least the original theatrical release) but was used in promos. "Bring on the sexy stews, baby!!"So there. I have no further contributions.hoya

 

[§kyye Candy]

Wondering, how many Delta pilots sending out your resume to places like Fedex, UPS and Southwest?

I have an "ex" who flies for DAL... he is in his mid-40s, former USAF fighter pilot, ex corp. pilot and regional prop-trash; has been flying since he was a kid. He was on the 757/767 for a couple of years at DAL. After all that, he now makes around 70K, no retirement options and a bleak outlook for the near future. He has been equip. displaced and domicile displaced.

After the company's latest request for even more concessions, he is considering leaving DAL to go to another industry altogether - says it just isn't worth it anymore. Can't say that I blame him.

 

[Sky Cowboy]

In your post you state "Tell me where you are coming from please." Well here goes. Based off your other posts in this thread, it sounds as though you like movie quotes. I will lead off with one from Pulp Fiction. Jewels (played by Samuel L. Jackson) says "Well allow me to retort."

How do I get my number of 1500+? It comes directly from Delta management. The same management team that took the best Post 9-11 balance sheet in the entire airline industry and drove the company into the 8th largest bankruptcy in the history of United States.

The management team is not interested in protecting your job or any other pilot's for that matter. They are much like the Terminator. They feel no pity. They feel no remorse. And they will not stop, ever, until your are terminated.

Never make the assumption that they want to keep the airline the same size. Indeed size does not matter. Profitability does. Here's a quote from The Right Stuff: "No bucks. No Buck Rogers. Funding makes those birds fly."

For those of us who are optimistic thinkers and slept in a Holiday Inn Express last night, pilot staffing appears to have turned the corner considering the massive retirements. I for one sure hope so as I will be one of the first to go when the layoffs start.

Unfortunately the staffing assumptions you make are wishful thinking. What airline in the history of commercial aviation has gone bankrupt and not laid off pilots?

Based off my personal conversation with Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein at the top of the jetway one morning, I have been told by The Man that furloughs will occur. Worse, he predicted that DALPA will allow them while allowing PRP's (Post Retirement Pilots for those of you reading and not familiar) to remain on the property. This is not urban legend, gentleman. This is not from a friend of a buddy who knows a guy. This is the cold hard truth as relayed to me directly by the CEO.

It is frustrating to note that the day before my discussion Mr. Grinstein was contradicted by the Flight Ops VP who said furloughs are not needed.

And therein lies the rub. How can Delta expect to survive in its present size, shape, and form when the CEO is not in lock step with his team?

That is the key take away. It will not. Don't get me wrong. I hope and literally pray that Delta will not become another footnote along side Pan Am, TWA, Braniff, Eastern, and the long, distinguished list.

Here's another movie quote. This time from Wall Street. Gordon Gecko, played by Michael Douglas, says when asked why he just liquidated an airline, "Because the sum of the parts is greater than the whole."

While that could be said of most any air carrier in today's climate, this is especially true of Delta considering the amount of debt it is holding and the man who got us there. Mr. Grinstein is well known as a merger and acquisition man.

Now General, back to your post. Your guess is as good as mine. Your case for staffing, while artful and well constructed, is just as big of an assumption as my stated 1500 furloughs, which by the way I totally pulled out of thin air.

So I'll say this again. What airline similar in sized to Delta has gone Chapter 11 and NOT furloughed pilots?

Believe you me I hope Delta breaks the mold. Personally I think the odds are against it. Who is to say Sir Richard Branson is not waiting in the wings with a bid for whatever he well pleases to start Virgin USA? Who is to say that The Alabama Teachers Retirement Trust is about to take Hooters Air to the next level? There is an unending supply of good money being thrown at bad business models.

As the old quote goes, "How does one make a small fortune in the airline business. First, start with a large fortune. Then buy an airline. Soon afterwards you will have a small fortune."

Hence, getting back to the spirit of this thread, How many Delta Pilots thinking of leaving?...

I am.

No offense, General. I'm not here to bust your bubble. I'm not here to poke fun at you in a public forum, continue the thread creep further off message, or start a long campaign to win hearts and minds. Your optimism is commendable but like the quote in the movie The Shawshank Redemption so aptly sums it up, "Hope is a Dangerous thing around here."

Hope all you want. Indeed it is far more constructive than worry. But don't leave yourself without a good alternate and a few thousand extra pounds of fuel to get there.

When Delta furloughs, I sincerely hope it does not get to you. In the meantime, in all kindness, I suggest you take the advice I should have acted on a month after 9-11.

That being, "Hope that Delta makes it with you on the property. In the meantime plan that it won't and make your own future."

Here's to VFR days and tailwinds.

V/r
Sky Cowboy

 

[Resume Writer]

I can tell you that in the last week, I have had three pilots, two mx techs and one flight attendant from DAL wanting to get their resumes done and do interview prep to help them get out of the company.

Their chief concern was what would happen to workrules, pay, and job stability. The flight attendant told me that they (the company) were already doing things to cut back on money, such as per diem decreases. Since I am not at DAL, I really do not know the truth as to what she told me.

Kathy

 

[General Lee]

I can tell you that in the last week, I have had three pilots, two mx techs and one flight attendant from DAL wanting to get their resumes done and do interview prep to help them get out of the company.

Their chief concern was what would happen to workrules, pay, and job stability. The flight attendant told me that they (the company) were already doing things to cut back on money, such as per diem decreases. Since I am not at DAL, I really do not know the truth as to what she told me.

Kathy

Kathy,

That is correct. The per diem rates will go from $2.10 to $1.80 for domestic, and down to $2.05 for INTL. For the stews, the workrules are nonexistant. For us, there will be some changes, but the major thing happening here is that we have had 2500 pliots retire (mostly early) within the last 15 months. 2500. No other airline has ever had that many voluntarily retire (obviously if an airline liquidates then everyone "retires" from that airline) within that amount of time. We normally have about 125 age 60 retirements in one year. We have had more leave in about 1 year (due to the 1/2 pension lump sum payout) than most regional pilots have pilots period.

Yes, the pay rates will go down, and there will be some workrule changes. Vacation will be less, and reserve will be tougher. That is what happens when your airline goes bankrupt. It suks, but it can be overcome eventually, hopefully. I think there will be a merger eventually, and then it really will get interesting.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[General Lee]

Sky Cowboy,

Well, I understand your anger. And, if you want to leave, then you should. This industry has changed, and if you were in it for the money, then you won't be happy. I enjoy the job, but I too like getting paid well. There are always cycles in business, and we are in a really bad cycle currently. If I thought this was it I would probably bail too, but I think something may come out of this. Maybe a merger, with a better management team. Maybe I will become a Captain faster thanks to the 2500 retirements. I really don't know.

As far as Grinstein and what he said to you, I don't think he really understands what goes on in manning equations. He is more concerned with keeping this thing going. D.W. knows a lot more about the manning because he is incharge of it. So does Kolshack. Grinstein might think DALPA would sell out the junior people with the PRP program staying, but they just handed out more pink slips to current PRPs. And, how many of them will stick around during the holidays? A lot of them quit last year at that time because they hadn't been on reserve flying the holidays in years. And, if we do furlough, I bet most (most) will quit.

I think the thing you are overlooking is the mass retirement numbers. That 2500 number is incredible. Think about what would have happened had those people not left? Look at NW---nobody has left there, and they will have to furlough. With super high oil and old airplanes that guzzle gas, it will be tough to remarket our old birds. The lessors will either play ball or park our planes making squat in Mohave.

Sure, I try to be a "glass half full" type of guy, and I think we have a good chance of little or NO furloughs. I am hoping for NO furloughs. The stews got hit with a lot, but that again is because nobody has left or retired over there. We shall see I guess, and I wish you luck in your next career.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Mookie]

Just got off a deadhead on mainline Delta...all male flight attendants.

Still "Sexy Stews????" You sure you havn't seen "honolulu hookers"????

Mookie

 

[General Lee]

Just got off a deadhead on mainline Delta...all male flight attendants.

Still "Sexy Stews????" You sure you havn't seen "honolulu hookers"????

Mookie

Did you get any phone numbers?


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Mookie]

nah...I figured you already "knew" them...

peace out, I'm off to get some prime rib.

Mookie