delta tell us what you think and please be candid

[phasersonstun2]

So what are my thoughts on a merger. I don't want it to happen with anybody. It would be a mess that does not need to happen. If Dougie wants a bigger airline he should grow his own.

I would prefer for ALL of us to have our airline(s) the way we want them. I have lost seniority on mergers, cutbacks, more mergers and more cutbacks. Now we have an industry that has onion skin thin margins due to price sensitivity and overcapacity and is constantly vulnerable to spikes in fuel prices.

There is no doubt that Delta can go it alone, provided they come up with a business plan that will draw exit financing. In essence, DP has offered exit financing, with a caveat. Delta's creditors may decide that they will be better off going to Boeing, GE Capital, etc. for 8 billion dollars, plus exit financing.

Since deregulation, the airline biz, for better or worse, has been dynamic. I wish us all luck, since none of us at the employee level really has any say in who buys who.

 

[WNrforlife]

as a us f/a. i want to know what the delta employees think and feel about all this. it has been quiet on the delta side . soe delta employees sent in e-mails to [email protected] and sounded pretty pissed. i liked their candidnes. please tell us what you think. don't hold back .

US F/A - EVERYONE knows that USAir Sucks. Ask everyone, not just Delta employees.

Really? I think employees (US and DL) are running on pure emotion right now, are frightened, not totally informed, and not considering what a great thing this could be. Removing excess capacity while maintaining levels of service and becoming a leaner, financially strong powerhouse, as well as a force to be reckoned with, is a great deal! Can one imagine actually having JOB SECURITY in the airline industry? After all, wouldn't this add significant value to DL as it stands today? More international gateways, a greater presence in the West, and of course some really cool employees!

I dont think DL employees have not had access to Doug Parker's 3 presentations to DL, citicorp, and US employees, but Ill just highlight a few of the items he spoke about (if you are interested):

- return of 10% of aircraft, with a majority being 50 seat RJs
- *NO* employee furloughs; instead offer leaves and right sized thru attrition (in fact US did the same in the HP/US merge, and we have hired/ recalled 4,000 since....)
- maintain hubs within close proximity of each other to maintain a healthy flow of connections,
- sell Delta shuttle, because the US shuttle includes the BOS-DCA market, while the DL shuttle does not,
-maintain transatlantic gateways in PHL and JFK, significant originating traffic in both major gateways,
-SLC and PHX kept, with SLC growing stronger in North traffic, PHX focusing on South traffic,
- each employee group moved to the *HIGHER* paid employee scale between US and DL,
- NO IDEA where HQ would be
- NO DECISION on Star Alliance/ Skyteam, we would however pick one,
- Synergies in the combination would make us a stronger enterprise going forward, helping us weather, for example, $100 barrel oil, and fierce LCC competition.

I can look up more info from the webcast if anyone is interested, and again, just reporting what was said by DP. All I know is that US (original) was almost dead, and a year later, here we are perhaps more financially stable. This guy just might know what he is talking about. Come to you own conclusions......

I know people are passionate about their respective airline, and anouncements like this bring out overwhelming emotion and fear. (believe me, we at US are going thru it!) Whatever happens, US and DL are two great companies with great employees. I have flown DL many times, and your crews cannot do enough for non revs. US is the same.

Hope this helps......

Wow, not a single downside ......amazing...

 

[insp89]

US F/A - EVERYONE knows that USAir Sucks. Ask everyone, not just Delta employees.
Wow, not a single downside ......amazing...

What goes around, Comes Around...WNr?forlife, You work for Southwest, Don't you?

 

[FlyUs]

US F/A - EVERYONE knows that USAir Sucks. Ask everyone, not just Delta employees.
Wow, not a single downside ......amazing...

How old are you? 5 Something tells me that even SW feels threatened by this merger and I dont blame them...

 

[etops1]

"I will definately be wearing my "Keep Delta My Delta" buttons when they are distributed next week.."


ok, i want a button.

 

[Itestwell]

US F/A - EVERYONE knows that USAir Sucks. Ask everyone, not just Delta employees.
Wow, not a single downside ......amazing...

Just passin' on the info from the webcast, dude.

Yeah, collectively, ALL US employees suck. Brilliant statement....

Are you guys serious that they are wearing buttons, or is someone making that up?

 

[Michael B]

Calling what Dougie wants to do a 'merger' is a joke, and a nasty one at that.
There is far too much duplication of route structure to justify trying to merge the two.
US is trying to buy hard assets on the cheep and will auction off what they can't use, which will be a lot. As for people, stapled or not, who ever ends up in the bottom third better have job options already in place.

 

[longing4piedmont]

B)-->QUOTE(Michael B @ Nov 23 2006, 10:06 AM) [post="432468"][/post]

As for people, stapled or not, who ever ends up in the bottom third better have job options already in place.
[/quote]

I do believe that would be the majority of the HP employees before the US buyout by HP. Cost neutral contracts and now this. And they still want to believe in the guy....

 

[bigbusdrvr]

B)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Michael B @ Nov 23 2006, 10:06 AM) [post="432468"][/post]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
As for people, stapled or not, who ever ends up in the bottom third better have job options already in place.
I do believe that would be the majority of the HP employees before the US buyout by HP. Cost neutral contracts and now this. And they still want to believe in the guy....

----------------------------------------------------------
just curious...did you fly for piedmont or were you ground based? the dash-8 is a nice plane but I never flew it. have any thoughts on it. I did fly twin otters but that was more of a "bush plane"

 

[DLFlyGirl]

Really? I think employees (US and DL) are running on pure emotion right now, are frightened, not totally informed,I disagree, many Delta people have done their research to make sure they are well informed. and not considering what a great thing this could be. Only great to US not so much to Delta?. Removing excess capacity while maintaining levels of service Here is where the employees are upset. The US service has been tarnished for such a long time that its scary to think we will have to work in that kind of atmosphere. and becoming a leaner, financially strong powerhouse, as well as a force to be reckoned with, is a great deal! Can one imagine actually having JOB SECURITY in the airline industry? We were starting to feel that already at Delta before this proposal After all, wouldn't this add significant value to DL as it stands today? How? More international gateways,We are currently the largest airline over the Atlantic, again the benefit here is only to US a greater presence in the West, and of course some really cool employees! The US and Delta people have always had such different philosopies it could be disasterous. Do you really want to take on 45000 hostile employees cuz the DL folks would be
I dont think DL employees have not had access to Doug Parker's 3 presentations to DL, citicorp, and US employees, Yes we have and have listen and read carefully over and over. When you are on the otherside you can hear some of the play on words but Ill just highlight a few of the items he spoke about (if you are interested):

- return of 10% of aircraft, with a majority being 50 seat RJs
- *NO* employee furloughs; instead offer leaves and right sized thru attrition (in fact US did the same in the HP/US merge, and we have hired/ recalled 4,000 since....) Your route systems didn't overlap like the DL and US routes do. Take my station in Florida. US has 8 flight to CLT and DL 7 to ATL. Do you really think they would operate 15 flights to one hub? (cuz one hub will close. Again that is just one station.)- maintain hubs within close proximity of each other to maintain a healthy flow of connections, That's Doubtful
- sell Delta shuttle, because the US shuttle includes the BOS-DCA market, while the DL shuttle does not, Ah but the Delta shuttle has time slots and the US does not. Also has the reputation with the travlers.-maintain transatlantic gateways in PHL and JFK, significant originating traffic in both major gateways,
-SLC and PHX kept, with SLC growing stronger in North traffic, PHX focusing on South traffic,
- each employee group moved to the *HIGHER* paid employee scale between US and DL, what's that a few cents an hour?
- NO IDEA where HQ would be Delta has a very sophisticated flight operations center. Airlines from aorund the world come in to observe it all the time. What's the HP center like? Can it handle the growth?
- NO DECISION on Star Alliance/ Skyteam, we would however pick one,
- Synergies in the combination would make us a stronger enterprise going forward, helping us weather, for example, $100 barrel oil, and fierce LCC competition.

I can look up more info from the webcast if anyone is interested, and again, just reporting what was said by DP. Which I hope you realize he is ssaaying to gain support so somethings should be taken with a grain of salt All I know is that US (original) was almost dead, and a year later, here we are perhaps more financially stable. This guy just might know what he is talking about. Come to you own conclusions...... Is i worth the chance that he doesn't and we end up in bankruptcy. US should continue on as is and Delta should continue on as is. Perhaps in the future merge with airlines that actually benefit both companies route system and not just one of them

I know people are passionate about their respective airline, and anouncements like this bring out overwhelming emotion and fear. (believe me, we at US are going thru it!) Whatever happens, US and DL are two great companies with great employees. I have flown DL many times, and your crews cannot do enough for non revs. US is the same. Thank you for the compiemnts. I haven't had the same experience when non reving on US but hopefully those two incidents were the exception. I guess time will tell.

Hope this helps......

My thouhts on furloughs
How can the two companies be intergraded without mainline employees getting furloughed? Take the airports for example. There is no way the majority of the airports where DL and US have a large operation can handle the overlap of employees working at one ticket counter, baggage service office etc. There simply isn't enough square footage in the same locaton. When we are busy at our ticket counter and the US counter is busy at the same time there is no way we could handle that kind of load at one counter. Many airports are not designed to be able to creat a "double wide" counter to house everyone.

Surely there wouldn't be as many flights because of the similar schedules of flight to ATL or CLT in the SE. One of those hubs will be closed by no mainline poeople will be furlough?? Ya right! In some of the smaller stations the current staff could potentially handle a couple more flights so again somebody has to go.

The logistics of this is rediculous. Are the airport (not airline) managers going to be willing to juggle mulitple airlines around to get more space in one place. For example, if Delta operates 4 gates on concourse A, US has 6 gates on concourse D and the New DL only needs 9 gates obviously they need to be in the same location. Other airlines at adjacent gates are going to have to move to accomidate this.

The same goes for the ticket counters. If DL has 10 positions, US has 10 but the "new" station needs 15 how do they make that happen? You can't just extend a aticket counter where there is no space. Sombody has got to move.

I'm pretty certain they company would be required to pay for all the moves, contsruction etc. Its just not logical.

 

[Flufdriver]

DLFlyGirl...great reason for this so called hostile takeover to be terminated...ticket counter space!!

Per DLFlyGirl...The same goes for the ticket counters. If DL has 10 positions, US has 10 but the "new" station needs 15 how do they make that happen? You can't just extend a aticket counter where there is no space. Sombody has got to move.

"Doug, we have problems with the ticket counter space...pull the bid off the table...NOW"!!!


Where do you think this problem is on the food chain of merger mania?? By the way DL Girl, don't worry...."WT" says it will never happen and we all know how brilliant WT is.

Delta,...oh brother!!

 

[luv2fly]

DLFlyGirl...great reason for this so called hostile takeover to be terminated...ticket counter space!!

Per DLFlyGirl...The same goes for the ticket counters. If DL has 10 positions, US has 10 but the "new" station needs 15 how do they make that happen? You can't just extend a aticket counter where there is no space. Sombody has got to move.

"Doug, we have problems with the ticket counter space...pull the bid off the table...NOW"!!!
Where do you think this problem is on the food chain of merger mania?? By the way DL Girl, don't worry...."WT" says it will never happen and we all know how brilliant WT is.

Delta,...oh brother!!

You go out of your way to be an a$$ don't you?
Why is it so hard for you to understand that the employees of DL don't want to merge with US?
If you take that personally, then you sir are the one with the problem.

 

[DLFlyGirl]

Well, there is nothing in my post that says the merger shouldn't happen because of overlap. My point was that there is no space/need for all the employees so furloughs are inevitable. I don't trust DP on that one...just my opinion though.

At least my post was thought out and intelligent, unlike yours. Hence my comment about the two philiosphies between the work groups.

I know I am going to get a backlash from a lot of you here but I'm going to point this out anyway.

Back in the time when the airline industry was "the place" to work it was known aroudn the industry that Delta hired the cream of the crop. That's not to say that other airlines didn't hire smart, qualified people for the job. Its just that Delta was in a position to be selective. Many people that wanted to work in the industry wanted to work for Delta as their first choice. I used to have so many people tell me that they tried to get hired on with Delta and ask me how I "got in". If you ask soem of the senior people 15 plus years and they can speak without emotion and just about the history of the industry I think you'll hear that is a true statement.

Many of those people are still working for Delta. Our morale was tarnished by the Leo Mullin and Co team but that has been coming back around again.

I'm curious if the morale issues of the US employees has come back around? It was tarnished for a much longer time than ours was.

 

[N924PS]

Well, there is nothing in my post that says the merger shouldn't happen because of overlap. My point was that there is no space/need for all the employees so furloughs are inevitable. I don't trust DP on that one...just my opinion though.

At least my post was thought out and intelligent, unlike yours. Hence my comment about the two philiosphies between the work groups.

I know I am going to get a backlash from a lot of you here but I'm going to point this out anyway.

Back in the time when the airline industry was "the place" to work it was known aroudn the industry that Delta hired the cream of the crop. That's not to say that other airlines didn't hire smart, qualified people for the job. Its just that Delta was in a position to be selective. Many people that wanted to work in the industry wanted to work for Delta as their first choice. I used to have so many people tell me that they tried to get hired on with Delta and ask me how I "got in". If you ask soem of the senior people 15 plus years and they can speak without emotion and just about the history of the industry I think you'll hear that is a true statement.

Many of those people are still working for Delta. Our morale was tarnished by the Leo Mullin and Co team but that has been coming back around again.

I'm curious if the morale issues of the US employees has come back around? It was tarnished for a much longer time than ours was.

DLFlyGirl:

Don't look now but your arrogance is showing again. Delta didn't become a good airline until the Western/PanAm (National) people came on board to temper some of that
Delta "attitude."

You know the one: "We're too good to share the hotel courtesy van with the likes of your airline."

 

[Flufdriver]

You go out of your way to be an a$$ don't you?
Why is it so hard for you to understand that the employees of DL don't want to merge with US?
If you take that personally, then you sir are the one with the problem.

No "Luv" I don't take it personally, why should I. I for one DON'T really want the thing to fly, too much ego. Lifes to short worrying about crap that happens behind closed doors. And for your information "sir", the people of DAL really don't have a say in this..."Buttons or no buttons." What are you guys worried about and getting yourself in a lather?? WT says it won't happen...and what WT says....happens! After all, we ARE talking about Delta here!! You guys are drunk on the juice man...it's only a corporation, forgot (it's Delta)...not a human being. Never saw such a cult...they must really hammer crap into the employees from day one.

Anyway...like I said...I HOPE IT DOESN'T HAPPEN...if fact, I need one of the silly buttons to wear...'KEEP DELTA", you can have it!!

DLFlyGirl:

Don't look now but your arrogance is showing again. Delta didn't become a good airline until the Western/PanAm (National) people came on board to temper some of that
Delta "attitude."

You know the one: "We're too good to share the hotel courtesy van with the likes of your airline."

N924PS...you forgot about the "RD's"...I was told that the Western guys weren't "RD'S...REAL DELTA pilots"!!! Man. talk about egos!!