thank you, Meto.
I've grown accustomed to the fact that this board is not interested in facts or anyone who speaks them but rather emotional hysteria and accusations, rather true or not.
Dawg,
First, you are the one who is blowing my request (and that is all it was) for you to post in a format that what you write can be quoted. You are free to do what you want, but don’t you dare accuse me of nitpicking by ASKING you to do something that is the norm on this board. If you choose not to do so, that is your business. If you want to react as ridiculously as you have over a request, then it is no surprise that you have the problems figuring out how to live within the system that exists at DL. Your reaction to my REQUEST says way more about you than me.
Take a big step back, get yourself together, eat your humble pie, and rejoin the conversation. Your contributions on the topics you know are welcome.
You are undoubtedly a very good mechanic but you have said one patently incorrect statement after another about DL and the industry.
- DL has a revenue premium to the industry across both the Atlantic and the Pacific. You made the statement (or asked the question) if what DL does at CDG and AMS is similar to US’ low yielding network across the Atlantic which was possible because of low labor rates. Not only are DL’s labor costs considerably higher than US’ but DL pulls in premium revenue on its TATL network.
- There is absolutely no requirement or limitation against DL operating seasonal flights on any part of its network including the Atlantic and I can absolutely assure you that DL would never agree to any restrictions by any labor group telling them where or when they can fly and with what aircraft. There are restrictions in the pilot working agreement regarding production balances via ASM counts with AF/KL as well as with other JVs. Given the revenue sharing, the concept in principle is fine with me. Maintaining ASM balance is far different than saying that DL cannot operate seasonal flying. There are a number of routes that make sense for all 3 of the big US airlines to fly during the peak summer season when demand is high and fares can support profitable flying. The only downside is that the all of those employees and airplanes have to be placed somewhere in the off-peak season when DL’s route system because much more heavily focused on carrying passengers to AF/KL hubs where they are distributed to other points in Europe on that side of the Atlantic.
There is a measurement and a cure period in the pilot contract regarding ASM measurements in the JVs. Even if DL was out of balance with the JV, they still have a period to cure the imbalance. In case you missed it, AF has been on strike for the past 2 weeks. They have cancelled between 6 and 10 flights/day; nearly every aircraft AF uses on the Atlantic is larger than DL’s because of the differences in the way DL and AF’s route networks operate. Because AF and KL don’t get credit in the JV for capacity they don’t fly, removing half or more of AF’s capacity from the system for 2 weeks in itself would have done wonders to change the balance of the JV in DL’s favor BUT that wasn’t the only thing that happened in Sept. If you looked at DL’s traffic report for this month, DL added over 8% more ASMs to its TATL system in Sept 2014 which means that change alone could have put the JV back in balance. The two moving parts of added capacity by DL and dramatically lower capacity by AF could well have corrected the problem far more than ALPA could have imagined. Given that DL’s capacity for the month was set before the strike and remained unchanged during it, DL might well have been planning to cure the imbalance this fall with its own capacity increases; the AF strike only made the correction even more dramatic.
- There is nothing sacred about the Delta Shuttle in terms of who has to fly it or work it. The Shuttle market has shrunk dramatically since DL bought the Shuttle from Pan Am. The Shuttle has always been a standalone product that was not connected to the rest of DL’s system; DL long believed – as did Pan Am - that the convenience of the Marine Air Terminal and the type of service of the Shuttle offset the lack of connections which the Shuttle could have if it were connected to the rest of DL’s system. Even in DCA, the Shuttle doesn’t connect to other DL flights even though it operates from gates right next to the mainline operation. With the changes to the Shuttle in about a month, DL is not only bringing the Shuttle back to mainline but allowing connections, even if starting with only one leg of the Shuttle.
You and other labor supporters make enormous noise about 40 RJ flights that operate out of the MAT using contract BW personnel but are hopelessly blind to the 150 RJ flights that are worked by DL people in Terminals C and D of LGA or other airports including the 250 or more RJ flights/day at ATL. Kev is right that DL does what they do because they can. And they also could outsource RJ handling of DCI flights in major hubs but they don’t. It is the complete inability of Kev and you and the rest of labor supporters to see the balance that causes so many DL employees to not take the labor movement seriously. You refuse to give the company credit for anything they do right and then moan about something that is far smaller than what the company does.
- As for LHR, you somehow can’t grasp – which is breathtaking given that you work mere steps from the world’s largest airline hub – that LHR is not only AA/BA’s largest local market but it is also their primary TATL connecting hub. DL and VS use LHR to serve the local market. DL uses AMS and CDG and other Skyteam hubs to carry connecting passengers. Oneworld has a small connecting presence in other hubs but LHR is their largest hub. For you to be unable to see the strategic advantage that DL and UA have in NOT having to use LHR as a connecting hub and instead use LHR for what its limited capacity works best for – the local market – is really frightening, dawg. Further, DL and VS do carry about 25% of the local US-LHR market compared to slightly over half for AA/BA. To say that DL and VS are pimples on AA/BA’s backside is ignorance of the market to the utmost degree.
- You clearly subscribe to the mindset that DL doesn't serve the nation's top markets and so they don't matter in the marketplace. Who cares if DL serves ORD nonstop to Europe or not? DL makes far more money by having twin hubs at DTW and MSP which DL dominates - a masterful design by NW that DL has only enhanced - than AA or UA could possibly make at ORD where they not only compete against each other but a number of foreign airlines. Further, DL is increasing its presence in key markets like LAX where there is no clear leader in the market whether AA fans think so or not. DL would start ORD int'l if they could make it work but they are operating other hubs which are far more profitable while still developing routes from key markets that are important to the industry. And DL's larger int'l presence at JFK more than makes up for what AA has at ORD. I can absolutely assure you of that. Again, DL is the largest airline across the Atlantic. They couldn't do that if they didn't serve enough major markets as well as be able to aggregate passengers to a lot of small markets.
IN case you have missed it, even after the merger, AA is number 3 out of 3 US carriers across both the Atlantic and the Pacific. DL is #1 across the Atlantic and #2 across the Pacific, the opposite of UA.
No one expects you to know or understand DL’s network, dawg. But when you make statements that are so incredibly wrong and so easily backed up by facts, you invite the criticism that is heaped on you.
Step back from the board, get the facts, stick to what you know, and participate on the forum as a grown up.
You have positive contributions to make. Dissing others and making patently incorrect statements does nothing to cement your position on this board.
