Ouch on the posts from DL FAs... and you're right this may give the union movement the ammo it needs to push them over the hump and get a successful vote. That would be an epic fail for Ed the CEO.

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I saw some poor guy at Logon airport on TV saying he'd been there since Friday trying to get home. I would have booked a ticket home on any airline, rented a car, taken the bus. Anything.

Incorrect. A few of the Big 6 were not viable long-term. Reminder that five out of the six went through Chapter 11 earlier this century. US was staring at Chapter 7 when AW took it over. The UA/DL/NW bankruptcies made the airlines ready for consolidation rather than remaining as independent carriers. DL/NW went through first and was a major success and now UA/CO is reaping the promises made at merger time despite all of the post-merger issues. AA delayed Chapter 11 as long as they could, rather foolishly, and got stuck with US, with that massive aircraft order.

And at the present, we have two airlines making nearly 100% of total airline profits while other carriers are struggling, some of which certainly face Chapter 11 at best in their futures. Further consolidation is coming otherwise liquidation will be necessary.

Airlines have replaced driving and other forms of mass transportation because flying is so cheap. I think if prices increased, the system wouldn't be so crowded and strained and the experience would improve.

I'm old enough to remember when Joe Brancatelli used to call the "Big 6" the "Sick 6". You can't just turn back the clock and pretend everything will be the same and ignore things like the rise of the LCC/ULCCs and the failing economics of the regional jet (both in terms of fuel costs and pilot costs). Also, the "Big 6" weren't actually all that independent of each other when you consider their various partnerships.

And look now, UA/DL, despite their difficulties over the past few days, are way ahead in financial health while everyone else, with the exception of AS, is struggling. Both UA/DL had superior merger partners although it was Delta who reaped the rewards earlier given the inevitability of the NW merger going back to 2005. The LCC/ULCC model is new regional jet so to speak in terms of failing economics and LCC/ULCC consolidation is necessary otherwise a few will be going Chapter 7. HAL hasn't caught a break since the pandemic, thus AS acquiring them will save their unique identity. AA is stuck where they are because of their lousy merger partner they ended up with because they refused to do Chapter 11 earlier due to pride. Would have been better for them to merge with NW or DL.

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Maybe while he's in Paris he'll be at CDG helping sort through lost luggage to help "the operation."

And 100% agree with others' posts about FA union:
This will get the FA's their union vote. They were already quite close on getting their numbers before this fiasco.

Mayor Pete making the rounds on TV:


CNN requested to talk with Delta executives earlier this week and no one was made available.

Incorrect. None of the big 6 needed to merge. They were doing much better after bankruptcy on their own. Airlines are doing just fine right now and if a few go under then there will be others to replace them. We were told NK would be gone by now if they didnt merger by many people. It is still here. It apoears the DOJ is leaning toward blocking the Alaska/Hawaiian merger next.

The customer is not the one who should be bailing out these airlines with mergers and the present DOJ respects customers more than airline profits. Airline mergers have done nothing but make airlines more bloated and less customer focused. The U.S. consumer has very little choice and with WN changing their culture the big 4 are all about the same with very little different. The big 6 did not need to merge.

This CEO has done an awful job running Delta and it is time we have more oversight. We should have CEOs fined when these airlines meltdown like Delta did.

I am sure things would have been all hunky dory if a few of the Big Six went under. Wonder how many tens of thousands of jobs would have been lost and not readily replaced? NW was not viable long-term with its very old narrowbody domestic fleet and the merger with Delta, along with acquiring used MD-90/717s and last of the line 737-900ERs, was able to keep MSP/DTW. MEM was finished as a hub regardless. Sure CO had EWR/IAH, but CLE was a money loser for years and UA was not the same carrier as it was and never would be again. Even with Smisek screwing up the merger from the moment it was announced, UA is in great shape now. As I said, AA got stuck with the worst merger partner in US, which alone was saved from Chapter 7 with HP taking over the airline, given bad decisions going back to 9/11. Now AA is stuck in neutral and can't figure out their revenue and cost problems. There's a distinct possibility they have lose money this year.

The CEO of NK shot down bankruptcy talk last month but we all know where this is headed. (Check out their stock price.) There's just no way they can keep losing money for years now without Chapter 11 restructuring. It was a blessing in disguise for B6 not to have acquired NK as that smelt too much of Pan Am-National, which was the primary catalyst for dooming Pan Am. If DOJ blocks HAL-AS like they did with NK-B6, HAL will go under. They have gotten hit with every single headwind imaginable with the Pandemic, Hawai'i having the slowest recovery of any state, the slowest re-opening of international travel to their pre-Pandemic international stations, the Maui fires, the incredibly weak Yen, and the entry of Southwest into the inter-island market, which has trashed yields for both airlines. (Data strongly implies WN is losing money interisland.) AS acquiring them is the only viable path for HAL to stick around long-term as a wholly owned subsidiary otherwise, unless they sell themselves to the state of Hawai'i, they are finished. (I am sure a government-owned airline in the US will do SO well....)

This DOJ would rather be ideologically sound on anti-trust issues than care about than ensuring long-term viability of a certain industry without excessive government intervention. Unhappy with how Delta handled the past six days? Vote with your wallet and refuse to fly them ever again. That is the consumer choice. It's not like Delta is Aeroflot, except for the previous livery. WN has no choice but to adapt to new circumstances. They pretended too long that they were still a smaller regional airline but now they're a massive airline. Their outage was an inevitability given their relatively high cancellation rate going into 2022 and having one of the lowest percentage of on-time flights as compared to their competitors. Ironically, their outdated IT software spared from the CrowdStrike outage.

Given Delta's finances and operations prior to last Friday, Ed and his team have done an excellent job running the airline. (I am sure this will go over well with those who frequently comment on this forum.) They were able to turn a profit for the full year of 2021. Delta's revenues have grown substantially in the past five years, even with the pandemic. You're making him sound worse than Smisek, which he is the opposite of in many ways. I do think he is nearing the end of his tenure as CEO, once Delta hits their 100th anniversary as a company, probably time for him to leave someone else to take over CE Woolman's desk.

So I told my neighbor who is a flight attendant with Delta that apparently this was going to be the catalyst for unionization and she burst out laughing. She thinks that some of you don’t really understand the whole situation. She assures me that among her and her friends what’s happened at the last few days has not made them have any desire to pay union dues.

Truth time. Almost everybody here is a frequent flyer. We know that will be blips from time to time. We may not always be happy about it but know it's a fact of life. We hope and expect that DL will do all it can to get us where we need to be.

Lately, for whatever reason or reasons, they haven't been quite as good in making that happen. I've seen it myself. Then we have this massive IT meltdown which, again, is something that can happen. But then DL fell apart. Now people can bicker and nitpick but the IT mess was a TIA and DL had a stroke. We don't need to rehash all of that here and now. The question is Ed and the issue is leadership by example.

Statistics don't matter to people. We see that in the current election. Despite whatever accomplishments have been made most people don't just see prices in the grocery store and at the gas pump but they FEEL them. If you want to call it optics, call it optics. In the last few days we saw the directors of the FBI and Pennsylvania State Police give coherent, detailed answers to a House committee while the (now former) Secret Service director struggled to utter a substantive sentence. (Note: I cite these examples NOT to take political "sides" but because they are current events that people can relate to.). Perceptions can easily become reality.

Trotting off to Paris while your business is still in meltdown mode is unthinkable. Conversely, a crisis communications expert would have had him acknowledge fully and unequivocally that this was a massive screwup and Delta would pull out all of the stops and do whatever it takes to make it right. Then he should have gone to an airport and pitch in, talk to the customers and the media and then over to ops and hear from the front line people before heading back to a command center at the executive offices to help oversee the recovery and direct efforts to make sure it doesn't happen again. Leadership by example. Paris can wait.

Instead we saw and heard someone who was marginally better than the now former Secret Service director.

Any update on Fast Eddie's travels in Paris? Whats he been up to? Is he enjoying his trip, getting some good photo ops with celebs and athletes? Maybe a nice reception/cocktail parts and fancy dinner?

Nothing so far, as his Instagram account is radio silent.