Bear with us, VVJM, as we're having a thought fixation on DAL. It got pulled a lot faster than I expected it to, seems as though you guys think so, too. Now it just doesn't seem to me that they've hired enough new pilots to have filled a domicile, yet. Sooo there has to be more to it. The 2 of the 5 which are most affordable were already popular with NJ pilots for that reason. If memory serves me, when they were negotiating the failed TA (popularly called the POSTA) the company wanted even less than 5 domiciles. Only the coastal cities. (If I'm recalling this incorrectly, I trust the NJ pilots will chime in.) Pilots complained, and to win votes they added CMH and DAL to the list. There was talk, briefly, of adding DEN--another interior city, makes sense, right? So looking back, they were never really too interested in CMH and DAL to begin with. I think they just got used to the idea of the 5 while the contract battle waged on.
It all comes back around to the pathetic FO wages. Fewer lived near the big, expensive cities because they couldn't afford to. They want pilots in those places, and yes, I can see that makes sense in the frac industry. So now they're trying to "force" pilots to go there. Problem is, they didn't increase the FO pay enough to make it an attractive option to any but those who were already in the area. I don't like what they're doing to aviation families and I hope their system falls like a house of cards. Speaking of cards..send them in. It's the only chance you have to fight back against things like this.
