DAL has best earnings upside revisions in industry

[WeAAsles]

No FA nor ACS employee are hired in as full time.

They actually are showing on AA Careers job openings in Fleet both Full Time and Part Time. We had new hires upgraded to Full Time here in MIA almost as soon as they walked in the door.

 

[Kev3188]

ALL hiring in ACS is done via the Ready reserve program. They have also recently introduced it to RES and GSE repair both.

 

[eolesen]

Do RR's get profit sharing?

 

[Kev3188]

Yes.

 

[topDawg]

ALL hiring in ACS is done via the Ready reserve program. They have also recently introduced it to RES and GSE repair both.

Saw that some of the tool room and supply attendant spots in the hangar are going RR too. 
 

Has there been an announcement regarding profit sharing yet?

Clearly, with less than $1B net profit for the full year, there doesn't seem to be a lot of room for that 15% payout we have heard about tirelessly.

FWIW profit sharing comes before specials I believe. 
 

 
I thought you were supposed to be in business and understand that DL settled less than a couple hundred million in hedge losses, has put up $900M in cash in the event the current MTM losses become reality.

oh, and DL absolutely hires FT employees.
 

it's right in the press release.

$1.1B in profit sharing.

how can it be that PS is more than net profits?

I haven't seen a FT ACS job open externally in years..... 

 

[FWAAA]

Looks to me like DL reported pre-tax income of $5.6 billion for 2014, excluding special items, excluding the MTM non-cash paper losses and excluding the $1.1 billion of profit sharing.

All in all, a pretty good year. DL hedged only a portion of its 2015 fuel, so it will reap a lot of the benefit of lower fuel prices. In other words, it will save more money on the fuel it buys than it will lose in hedging losses.

Can anyone post the actual DL profit-sharing formula for 2014?

 

[Kev3188]

FWIW profit sharing comes before specials I believe.

It does.
 

I haven't seen a FT ACS job open externally in years.....

I'm not sure I ever have?
 
 

Can anyone post the actual DL profit-sharing formula for 2014?

Adjusted pre-tax profit up to 2.5B is mulitplied 10%

Anything above 2.5B is multiplied by 20%

Whatever that adds up to is then divided by the total eligible wages of all eligible employees.

That number is the percentage that is then multiplied against one's gross earnings to come up with a gross payout.

*Special items are not included in the formula, nor is the previous year's profit sharing payout.

*Eligible wages includes most all of the usuals (base rate, OT, PPT, license pay, etc.). it does not include Shared Rewards payouts or last year's profit sharing.

I'm pretty sure I got that right? Maybe Dawg can weigh in if I missed something...

 

[WorldTraveler]

yes, specials have to come before profit sharing. and yes Kev you covered it pretty accurately.... if you missed anything, it is pretty inconsequential.

It is precisely that kind of logic that DL built into its profit sharing that ensures that DL employees get the profit sharing based on operational results - and not hold them responsible for restructuring the business, fuel hedges, or other accounting adjustments.

again, that says that DL values the work of DL people above all else on the balance sheet.

and that is a pretty strong affirmation.

and yes FWAAA, DL did indeed record a very good year and the indications are that 2015 will be just as good.

the bad hedges have to be dealt with but the whole notion of hedging for US airlines is to ensure that upside costs are known and manageable even if there is a risk that DL and other US airlines that hedge won't fully participate in downward movement of prices.

There are bound to be discussions going on once again if it was worth that kind of hedging loss but everything up to this point says DL and other airlines that hedged and saw hedge losses will continue to hedge based on the upside.

remember also that the Saudis might want to say that crude oil prices will never hit $100/bbl again but that is precisely their strategy to get fracking out of the production system. The likelihood based on history is that crude oil will indeed go up and when it does the airlines that continue to hedge will mitigate some of the increased costs.

 

[700UW]

DL's PS checks are lost in the increase in price and less coverage for DL's insurance program.
 
My prescription plan has a $200 deductible, not $2000!

 

[WorldTraveler]

no, DL profit sharing is not being offset by changes to insurance.

you couldn't begin to compare the value of your insurance coverage with someone who posts on the internet. that is how complex insurance coverage is.

 

[700UW]

Deny what you want the reality is DL's employees insurance went up in cost and they have less coverage than last year they didn't have a $2,000 deductible for medicine and there was a huge increase in copays.

Those are facts. You are lying once again.

 

[robbedagain]

according to yahoo news  dl lost 712 million 4th qrtr    

 

[FWAAA]

according to yahoo news  dl lost 712 million 4th qrtr

Yes, on a GAAP basis, that number is correct. It includes some huge non-cash paper "losses" on future hedge contracts that have not yet settled, so nobody knows whether the hedges will be winners or losers. All we know is that at today's fuel prices, the contracts are big losers, so the accounting profession's standards require that we pretend that today's fuel price holds until the contracts settle and require the big loss to be recognized early.

If fuel prices spike in the next few weeks, then DL won't have as big an actual loss on its hedges, and would report a big offsetting gain.

There are other "special items" that are typically excluded when discussing how well a company performed at its core business, and DL performed very well.

 

[robbedagain]

thanks FWAA

 

[WorldTraveler]

Deny what you want the reality is DL's employees insurance went up in cost and they have less coverage than last year they didn't have a $2,000 deductible for medicine and there was a huge increase in copays.

Those are facts. You are lying once again.

no I am not lying. I never said DL employee medical costs haven't gone up and the quality of insurance has gone.

what I have denied is your assertion that unions can stop the trend of lower quality insurance coverage that is sweeping across the US and far larger out of pocket deductibles.

let me help you out.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/01/middle-class-workers-struggle-to-pay-for-care-despite-insurance/19841235/

all of the following are quotes from the article

A recent Commonwealth Fund survey found that four in 10 working-age adults skipped some kind of care because of the cost, and other surveys have found much the same. The portion of workers with annual deductibles — what consumers must pay before insurance kicks in — rose from 55% eight years ago to 80% today, according to research by the Kaiser Family Foundation. And a Mercer study showed that 2014 saw the largest one-year increase in enrollment in "high-deductible plans" — from 18% to 23% of all covered employees.

Is Obamacare to blame? Since the ACA took effect, "there's been an accelerated movement" to these types of health plans, says Brian Marcotte, president and chief executive officer of the Washington, D.C.-based Business Group on Health.

Joel Diamond, a Pittsburgh primary care doctor, thinks high-deductible plans are a smart choice for people who can't afford higher premiums and are generally in good health.

Aetna, the first national insurer to move to high-deductible plans — which it coined "consumer-directed plans" — more than a decade ago, says the plans help employees and employers save money.

Emanuel, who is considered an architect of Obamacare, says that he is "not a fan of high-deductible plans" and that what's needed are "smart deductibles" that don't discourage people from using the services they really need to stay healthy.

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let's also be clear that DL has MULTIPLE TYPES of insurance coverage that employees can select.