WT how can you continue to say that DL employees are enjoying compensation far greater than any CBA could allow but in practically claim in the same breath that WN (one of the most heavily unionized carriers in the world, btw) is poised to "[with DL] run everyone else over"? You are talking out of both sides of your mouth
we've been thru this before but I'll be happy to address your question one more time.
I have never said that DL employees have the highest compensation in the industry. I have said that DL employees have gained far more than their network carrier peers and even since BK have gained more in terms of salary and profit sharing increases than even their peers at WN.
WN is a great airline and I have a lot of respect for them but they are adapting into a new phase in their life and they aren't delivering the revenues and the increases for their employees that they once delivered. WN employees are still very well paid and that won't change anytime soon.
But the common thread that DL and WN both have is that they are very successful companies and their employees benefit in large part because DL and WN employees understand what it takes for their employer to win. The same thing can be said about B6.
In complete contrast we have the majority of the legacy airlines that have highly contentious labor relations and that translates directly into efforts by those airlines to extract the most from their employees and keep those employees with the lowest pay for as long as possible.
My continuous theme has been that the prosperity of companies and the alignment of labor with the companies' goals is a far greater measure of success than any CBA has delivered or any union could delivered.
DL employees do well because the company is well run and the employees by and large are giving the company what it needs to succeed.
I'm curious to see where the DCA slot(s) wind up...
We'll see in time since they can't get "parked" for any length of time without use but I think you will see DL open a few more int'l gateways where DL most needs to be.... maybe not tomorrow but it might not be too far down the road.
As for the discussion about CLT, I will agree that I don't think CLT is that great of a facility.. it is cobbled together from multiple concourses that were never intended to serve as a massive hub for an airline.
That said, it will probably surprise a lot of people that I don't rank ATL a whole lot higher because the facility is pushed well behind what it was designed to do. ATL and CLT both succeed because they serve huge parts of the country and huge global traffic flows that aren't served by any other hubs. DFW and MSP are in a similar vein but it is a little better designed as a hub and isn't pushed quite to the extreme.
I have said before and will say again that if DL could swap ATL for DTW, they would be in a incredible position. NW did an incredible job with building the DTW facilities and it is a shame that there aren't more flights there... but the market, not the facility, drives the schedule.
Still, the DL terminal and concourse in DTW are some of the best in the world.
Bar none.