I miss NWA

P

pilotlight

Well-Known Member
This is not a knock on current Delta Pilots, especially those who chose to work for Delta.
Disclaimer I am only a regional pilot and have not actually worked at delta nore will i probably ever because of the way they hire but as I was staring at the 20 planes in front of me in DTW on a clear day for takeoff, I just started thinking about the red tail and the airline I wanted to work for growing up.
I can count on one hand in 4 years the number of ground stops due to flow control i had while working under northwest airlink
I can count more than than in the last month working under delta connection.
Our routes are CONSTANTLY changing - under northwest they gave our planners way more time to build schedules making it easier to predict staffing models.
Seeing the way Delta treats Comair to this day 10 years after the strike bothers me
Seeing the way Delta treated Mesaba, the oldest regional around with an excellent safety record bothers me
Is it really that important to have Delta written on wheelchairs?
Northwest was loyal to EAS markets, I just learned that RHI is no longer getting service and I expect in the next year more cities will lose service.
Northwest might not have had the most updated planes or ammenities, but they got you there on time better than anyone in the industry more consistent. Delta and its regionals always wind up on or near the bottom.
Delta for some reason likes every single plane to take off and land at the same time
Anywhere Delta can fit a regional jet, they will do it - there will soon be a gap from 144 seats to 76 with no replacement order made yet. Why are CRJ 200's flying from DTW, JFK to ORD?
Northwest was to be the US launch customer for the 787 which despite its problems will be a great airplane - delta pushed back the order to 2020+
The boeing 747 - the greatest airplane ever built will soon be retired i fear
Ok my rant is done - long live the red tail!

p.s. JFK IS A DUMP!!
 
I miss the DTW dump. Fly 290 to runway, then short approach on down. Happened all the time. Now were slowed to 190 kts 40 freaking miles out. We sometimes hold in DTW on clear days. I do like the Delta planes better with the IFE, but do miss the NW schedules.
 
undsioux1 said:
I miss the DTW dump. Fly 290 to runway, then short approach on down. Happened all the time. Now were slowed to 190 kts 40 freaking miles out. We sometimes hold in DTW on clear days. I do like the Delta planes better with the IFE, but do miss the NW schedules.
Click to expand...


This. NWA gave us a better chance to make decent schedules. I've had my schedule change after the month started because Delta made "marketing changes" to 9E's schedule. Sucks since it was a 23 hour trip, and I lost the 18 hour JAX overnight for a DH to ATL, 12 hour ATL overnight, then DH to BDL. Gee, THAT'S productive. Fly confirmed for less meant you knew you were going to get where you were going with the kid rather than expaining to them why you got bumped off the 3rd flight in a row for a wheelchair pusher or ramp agent with 6 months of seniority because daddy flies for a "contract regional." I'm happy to have a line, but I'm not so happy to be commuting. If it weren't for Delta, pretty sure MEM wouldn't be turning into the next CVG, too, despite all the promises that Memphis wouldn't right about the time the merger was announced. Hope the airport finds someone else to fill in the gaps after they've finished this multi-million dollar parking garage. DH was easier on NWA, too. Go online, check in, pick seat, print boarding pass, and go. You didn't need to bug a gate agent for anything. Now, it seems there are never any seats to pick becuase Delta likes to block a lot of seats off. That, and I have to keep track of more numbers to check in on a kiosk at the airport than we have different jetbridge codes in the system.
 
pilotlight said:
I was staring at the 20 planes in front of me in DTW on a clear day for takeoff, I just started thinking about the red tail and the airline I wanted to work for growing up.
Click to expand...

I've got mixed opinions of some of the other things you typed about but I'm just replying to this for now...DTW currently has 22R closed for construction which has a significant effect on the flow of things. They've got to spread the arrivals out evenly over 21L and 22L, which means a departure line for 21R and 22L.

When the construction is done DTW will go back to being an on-time machine.

Now, the bashing of JFK, LGA, ATL, . . . have at it. :)
 
You are right my mistake however the comment about being 40 miles out 170 kias is spot on. I love me my DTW but I wish they woudl get RNAV Departures and Arrivals. Maybe now that the DC9 is going away they will.
 
Maybe. I do remember taking off out of places like FWA and MBS getting an EDCT time for flow even when all four runways are going strong. With as much traffic as it handles, DTW is extremely efficient. JFK.....I think ATC likes to just screw with us. OVC900 and they're doing VOR approaches and get surprised when someone says they're going missed because they don't have the lead in strobes for 13L in sight. Same thing with 22L. I mean, that one even HAS an ILS. Why not use it?
 
I feel the same way about Midwest, but it's simple...our favorite companies would swallowed up and for good reasons, which may not necessarily bode well on our schedules at this point.
 
pilotlight said:
I can count on one hand in 4 years the number of ground stops due to flow control i had while working under northwest airlink
I can count more than than in the last month working under delta connection.
Click to expand...

Wow. I can't count the number of Ground stops I encounter on one week on one hand. I run out of fingers on day 2!!:yup:
I get the feeling you don't like that NE flava!!
 
sherpa said:
Wow. I can't count the number of Ground stops I encounter on one week on one hand. I run out of fingers on day 2!!:yup:
I get the feeling you don't like that NE flava!!
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's just a way of life in JFK. Fortunately, most of our block times come with a built in ground delay. If you DON'T get held on the ground for RIC-JFK, you'll underblock by about 45 minutes. Thankfully, the new contract actually has us getting paid the marketing block rather than the actual block flown. Guys were losing their shirts on that before March. On the flipside, sometimes you overblock consistantly. I've been pushing 30/7 for almost a month now thanks to the traffic in JFK. I've had 4 turns removed becuase I was scheduled 27+ hours on my 4 days (or 2 days followed by 4 days) and scheduling was HOPING for the best. Good news (for me at least), I overblocked about 7 hours total in May without even trying. Another good thing about this new contract: the 15 minute rule is gone. If that were still in place, I'd probably only be getting paid about 2 hours extra instead of 7.
 
I'm with you on the route-changing. Its pretty crazy sometimes. One day SDF-MSP is all Skywest, then its 3 different DL Connection carriers, then its all Compass, then its mainline. SFO-LAX was all Skywest, now its a mix of Skywest and Mesaba. I try to catch the redeye to MSP, one night its a 757-300, then an A320, then an MD-90, then an A319. One day SFO-MSP has 6 frequencies, then 4, then 7, then 5. Most airlines put out a schedule for the season and stick to it with minor changes, when I pull up DL scheduals in UA's computers, they're only posted for periods of days, not weeks or months like other airlines. Maybe all this fine-tuning is why they're always so full.

With the exceptions of the DC-10s, pretty much my whole life NWA had a solid schedule with the same times, equipment, and flight numbers out of SFO for about as long as I can remember. It was nice to actually be able to predict trends for non-reving.
 
I did have a soft spot in my heart for the DC-9 that had the same date on it's airworthiness certificate that's on my birth certificate.

We spent many hours together. I hope I go as gracefully (or look as good) when I'm put out to pasture.

Richman
 
kellwolf said:
Yeah, it's just a way of life in JFK. Fortunately, most of our block times come with a built in ground delay. If you DON'T get held on the ground for RIC-JFK, you'll underblock by about 45 minutes. Thankfully, the new contract actually has us getting paid the marketing block rather than the actual block flown. Guys were losing their shirts on that before March. On the flipside, sometimes you overblock consistantly. I've been pushing 30/7 for almost a month now thanks to the traffic in JFK. I've had 4 turns removed becuase I was scheduled 27+ hours on my 4 days (or 2 days followed by 4 days) and scheduling was HOPING for the best. Good news (for me at least), I overblocked about 7 hours total in May without even trying. Another good thing about this new contract: the 15 minute rule is gone. If that were still in place, I'd probably only be getting paid about 2 hours extra instead of 7.
Click to expand...

What was the 15 minute rule you guys had?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top