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I too hope that they don't strike. We fly on Song to mco on the 14th, so that is safe, but supposed to come back on the23rd. So, who knows? However, you need to think about putting some of the blame on the officers of Delta, not just the pilots. How much are the chairman giving back? How many millions did their ceo get over the past few years? How much would that have helped some flight attentdants had some of that money been put back in the pot for the employees? How would your life be affected if you had to take a 32% cut in pay after already giving back thousands just a few years ago? yes, 100,000 is a nice pay check, but when it has been dramatically cut, it does not look so large. Everyones life style is based on how much they get paid. Someone earning that much probably has a mortgage based on that kind of salary. All of a sudden their pay gets cut by 32%. Will the mortgage company care? there are people in delta making much more than the pilots who could also help out by giving back to the company, but they always take it out on the employees first. Its always the employees who are asked to give, give,give. I hope they are able to come to some agreement, but I certainly understand the pilots wanting to take a stand.snickerboo said:
), but that's such a small drop-in-the-bucket, it wouldn't help them continue operating more than another few hours. The reality is that management salaries are a miniscule expense for a big company.
Let's put a few things in a different perspective. If Delta pilots strike, they only get paid from a strike fund that won't nearly replace their current salaries. If the strike ends up killing the airline, they can't collect unemployment as their work action is not a forced situation (not a lockout or layoff). So at the end of the day, the pilots union choosing the strike option is not much of a win/win for them. It is, however, a bargaining chip if Delta thinks they can unilaterally cut the pilot pay. Let's not be too holier than thou on what pilots make. It takes lots of training at great expense to pilot the large planes. Most experienced pilots are well into their 40's before making captain at the major airlines. We pay doctors an average of $300K a year for similar experience in their profession at a similar age. You want the person in charge of 150 -350 lives day in and day out to be paid like a clerk at Walmart? I'm not sure I'd agree. In addition, everyone on here loves SWA, and they pay pilots on just about the same scale that Delta is now on and SWA makes money. I think the 30% reduction the pilots took last year has brought them in line with the industry. I don't care if you make $20K or $200K, a 30% reduction in pay hurts your pocketbook. I'm sure most pilots have bills to pay, kids in college, retirement worries, etc. that don't have sympathy to such a large pay cut and haven't adjusted themselves down 30%. This is just my opinion and I respect your opinion, although I don't agree with it.snickerboo said:
Cutting management jobs can mean many things. I am a programmer, my company considers me to be 'management'. Yet I manage no one. If I was a Delta employee and they cut my job, they would be cutting 'management' jobs.bicker said:Unfortunately, that's not the issue. Indeed, Delta just some management jobs (completely -- 100% pay cuts!
This is too true. We have all gotten used to paying much less for airfare than it really costs. My flight cost me 250 roundtrip because I caught a sale. Others on the same plane are probably paying close to 1000 round trip which may be closer to the real cost.bicker said:
It's true what you said, but the point was that cutting management jobs or salaries is pretty meaningless. It just means the best talent will find new jobs and you'll be left with the rest. It doesn't actually have much impact on profitability, expect, perhaps, negatively.
My guess is that the real cost is probably closer to $400, so we're basically wreaking havoc with the US economy for $150 per trip. (Remember, airlines fail and the US taxpayers are forced to pick up the pension debt. We're all paying for these cheap airfares, in our taxes, and we're paying regardless of how much or little we travel.)
Yes and no. A strike does not, itself, result in loss of your money. However, many folks believe that if the pilots strike Delta, Delta will cease operations -- "go out of business". In that case, ticket holders like yourself become "unsecured creditors" and are the last to get anything from the proceeds of the airline once it is liquidated. What that means is that they'll basically sell the bits and pieces of Delta off to raise cash, and then first use that cash to pay off all the secured creditors: Folks Delta owes money to for airplanes, services already rendered to Delta, fuel already consumed, rent already incurred, etc. After all those folks are fully paid off (if there is enough money to pay for all of that) then the ticket holders split the rest, based on how much their tickets were worth.angel's momma said:
