NWA/DAL solving the seniority issue

[Redmeat]

Actually, he was 100% right. He said they would be back to the table, and they were. You would be smart to listen to Occam. The man knows what's going on.

To use a younger generation's term...WORD.

 

[PCL_128]

Jke, friends with privileges? Isn't that what you have down at the bath house?

 

[Redmeat]

let me guess: Occam is one of your union "friends with privileges?"

jke406...what exactly is your position in all of this?

You sure do have a lot say. Please enlighten all of us @ NW and DAL.

Do you work for either airline?

 

[Truckdriver]

Hey oil is over 107 a barrel!
Scary...

That is what we said when it crossed $50, then $60, then $70, etc. People also said they would never pay $3/gal for gas and consumption has never slowed. Consumption of gas won't slow until gas hits around $5/gal and then small business in the U.S.A. will come up with alternative energy sources and stop waiting on the government or big oil to do something they will never do. Just like gasoline for our cars, Americans will fly if it costs a few bucks more. The only thing that will hurt this industry is if ALL the airlines don't add fuel surcharges. It seems over the last year that most of the fuel surcharge increases have stuck and that is a good thing. I think the next couple of years will be like any other recession in the airline industry, but airlines will make it through just as they always do. If we had a government that worried about the economy of the nation instead of the economy of a few rich folks in the U.S., then we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.

 

[jke406]

jke406...what exactly is your position in all of this?

You sure do have a lot say. Please enlighten all of us @ NW and DAL.

Do you work for either airline?

I just call it like I see it.

there are plenty of tools at NWA, DAL, ALPA, etc. etc. who could benefit by doing the same thing.

 

[Redmeat]

I just call it like I see it.

there are plenty of tools at NWA, DAL, ALPA, etc. etc. who could benefit by doing the same thing.

Folks...let me translate:

He doesn't work for NW or DAl and has no stake in the outcome of the negotiations or the merger.

Irrelevant is the term that should come to mind upon reading joke406's post's regarding the merger from this point.

Tool.

 

[123]

That's kind of ironic. I make 80-100K at ASA am in the top 50% of the list. But from what I'm hearing my QOL and prospects are way better than those of you who got the "dream shot".

And everyone wants to know why we "losers" CHOOSE to stay at a regional.

I wouldn't call anyone at a regional a "loser" (well, I take that back, but it is not because they are at a regional...). I think that the better term is "risk averse", which is perfectly fine and completely dependent upon a persons situation in life. Thing is that you can not complain, or sue, when still flying for 80-100k and someone who was once junior to you and accepted the risk of a major and is making $150k plus.

 

[~~~^~~~]

Actually, last time he stated that the rumor that they/we had walked away for good was false. Or the the deal was dead.
Read every word he says. The devil is in the detail.

I respectfully disagree. The Delta team came home.

Negotiations ended nearly two weeks ago without a deal, dousing expectations that the airlines would strike a merger agreement.

Management's take:

SEATTLE (AP) -- Bastian said, "It's not a Plan B, it's a Plan A -- that's our standalone option." Later, Bastian said the company expects solid growth for the year and that the airline has "a great standalone plan."

He said a potential combination would have to protect its employees' seniority; for pilots, that means first dibs on desirable and higher-paying planes, routes and schedules.

Richard Anderson's take:

"We have not arrived at a potential transaction that meets all of our principles," he said, adding those included keeping the Delta name and Atlanta headquarters, improving international growth prospects as well as protecting employees' seniority, jobs and retirement plans. "We will not complete a transaction unless all of these conditions are met," Anderson concluded.

And action:

Delta Air Lines Inc. disbanded the outside advisers hired to guide a merger with Northwest Airlines Corp. after the carriers' pilots couldn't agree on how to mesh seniority lists, people with knowledge of the matter said.

As I wrote, ALPA National did weigh in once the phone started ringing with other MEC's demanding to know why NWA Reps would hold up a 30%+ pay restoration outside of Section 6 negotiations. It took intervention from National to get DAL to return to the table.

Sources told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday that senior members of the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents both pilot groups, have met with representatives from both airlines' locals in an attempt to restart the talks.

and

A group of Northwest Airlines pilots was still holding out hope Thursday that a merger with Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines is possible.

Based on this reporting, the NWA pilots wanted the Delta guys back and National stepped in. Neither side sent their entire teams.

A person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday the meetings have involved a handful of senior pilots and are not formal negotiations. It is unclear whether the group has made any progress.

Others are reporting the progress was not as much as was hoped.

In the mean time, resistance is certainly building on the DAL side and $108 oil is putting a lot of pressure on management.

Anderson is correct to point at the US Government's failure to have an energy policy and FAA inefficiencies. He's looking forward as a man running a ongoing operation. Steenland is saying consolidation is necessary - he is looking forward also, as a man running for a golden parachute

MINNEAPOLIS -- Northwest Airlines CEO Doug Steenland called $105 oil a "serious budget-breaker" on Monday and warned that high fuel costs are a "difficult financial challenge" for the carrier that emerged from bankruptcy just nine months ago.

Steenland said if oil remains above $100 a barrel, "it will cost Northwest $1.7 billion more this year than it planned for. This rapid increase in fuel costs is another reason why we continue to believe that consolidation in the industry is inevitable."

High fuel prices were a major factor in Northwest's and Delta's bankruptcy filings in September 2005.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

never mind

 

[ACL65PILOT]

You can disagree, but the fact is that he does know more than the average bear.
And not to defend him, but he had the same info that I did, abet from the other side of the fence. Where we go from there is anyones guess, but I know that your reps will tell you if you call them.