Delta Pilot Strike?

[Deacon]

Since I am striving to become a pilot as my career, this headline caught my eye in the newspaper, about how Delta pilots "may" strike, they are currently the highest payed pilots in that industry.

The pilots union at Delta Air Lines Inc., locked in a battle with management over pay cuts, is encouraging rank-and-file members to stage a large demonstration next week that is being described as a "practice strike."

While full details have not been worked out, union spokeswoman Kelly Collins said in a memo to pilots Friday that the event will take place March 30 near Atlanta

This is old, but if they do a a real strike it could mean trouble, my uncle flies a Boeing-777 from NY to France, and last year he took a 40% paycut! But, United is now out of bankruptcy, hopefully over the years he will get his normal paycheck. Thats the only problem with being an airline pilot, your job is effected by the flucuating economy.

Well, anyway what do you think will happen to Delta, I think many mergers are present in the near future. Opinions, Comments?

[Churchel]

My cousin just retired from delta, he flew everything from 737-757's. The problem with their airline was that the union had a sweet deal for pilots. I know they used to pay him not to fly during the week.

His son is also a pilot who makes less than 20 dollars an hour to fly commuter jets. There is no money in piloting anymore.

[Deacon]

Reply: Well right now there is no good pay in piloting, but still in 2004 the average pilot for a major airline got an average pay of 136,000 a year which is just under a doctor which is around 146,000, so the pilot's jobs depend on the economy, Bad economy = trouble for pilots, Good = lots of $$$

[Old Corps Gunny]

There are a lot of qualified pilots out there who are not actually filling a pilot slot (copilot, engineer) who would jump at a chance to get the job. The union knows this and that is why it is asking for support from the "rank-and-file" members. As you said, Delta's had a sweet deal. There are a lot of factors affecting how much the airlines can afford to pay their pilots: economy (whether or not people can afford to fly), security at airports (is it worth the trouble to fly), rising cost of fuel, competition, etc. Would a general strike make much sense if Delta goes bankrupt and all the employees end up out of a job, particularly when there are so many pilots with resumees already out there? If that happens, I doubt that any personnel officer of another airlines would consider an application from a former Delta pilot, no matter how much experience he/she had. Sometimes it's better to take the pay cut and hope the situation improves, especially if your group is the highest paid in the industry.