The "Widget" Comes to Dubai

[A300Man-2005]

Delta is to commence services to Dubai, directly from Atlanta. Boeing 777-200ER's will ply the route five time a week. Outbound services will not operate on a Monday or Friday.

[fatbus]

And you are perfect!

[Farty Flaps]

Look at the advantages.

All those potential DECs will already be in Doobaye and can do the assessment for thier VP line ops position,or trainer in waiting whilst on a layover. Its a win win situation. Roadshow costs saved, ploughed back into the pilot welfare, more decs and so an inrease in establishment , so less flying, more going camping in the desert and sitting in an expat club you can now afford due to your better work to pay ratio.

Proves all those cynics about EK management wrong huh.:D :E

[CAYNINE]

No it's Mutt..... but I whole heartedly agree their RT is a disgrace, OK in the land of exess, but multi lingual environment here dictates a degree of standardisation.

[The Darkness]

Can't wait for you all to hear some "see y'all next time" remarks on the radio!!!!! Is this what they mean by "The South Will Rise Again????".

Darkness

[DHC8-FO]

ahhhhhhh.... roger, okayyyy, unnerstand the delta is checkin' in with doo-bah, level three five OH, lookin' fer lower, seven seven zero zero comin' down.... yerrrrr.....so cool... runway thirty....yerrrrr
I can't wait. They'll soon have the rest of the halfwits from Air India and other easily-influenced RTers mimicking their non-standard, backwoods, North Virginia drivel on the radio. That's the ones who aren't already doing it, that is.
Speaking of which, I see the FOM is being whipped into some sort of respectability lately. One of the notices exhorts us all to use standard RT phraseology. A bit hard with all the seppos on the air....!! :p
Jokes, guys, just jokes is all..... really. :ok:
...gonna back this lil ol' puppy up with reverse thrust, yerrrrr....

Not bad, not bad at all. Thats the first time ive laughed on this site in a while. I hail from widget land, you nailed it pretty close.
Im just glad DAL is coming to DXB, might actually give me a chance to get home direct once and a while.

[ironbutt57]

trust me farty flaps the DL pilots who would like to work there at EK are few and far between...

[TangoUniform]

trust me farty flaps the DL pilots who would like to work there at EK are few and far between...

Reeality is, the group that would have been interested in a DEC position has dried up. Why leave DL at this point to come here? But lots of interest in the F/O ranks at DL. Three years plus to upgrade here, try about 15 to 20 now at DL.

[ironbutt57]

yours or mine paycheck here capt or fo regardless wouldnt make a pimple on the hiney of a DL's pilot paycheck when you consider the careerlong earning potential they have....there may be the few here or there, but dont think you will have a flood of applications

[falcon10]

yours or mine paycheck here capt or fo regardless wouldnt make a pimple on the hiney of a DL's pilot paycheck when you consider the careerlong earning potential they have....
Maybe, maybe not! I did an informal spreadsheet comparing average career earnings between EK and CAL and the numbers were very interesting.

26 YEARS TO RETIREMENT (60)
CONSERVATIVE CAPTAIN UPGRADE (EK: 5 YRS / CAL: 1-10 WB-FO / 10-15 LNB CA / 15 WB CA)
RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS AVG. 10%/YR

EK:
$3,148,512 SALARY
$2,493,956 DEFINED BENEFIT & 7% 401(k)
TOTAL: $5,642,468

CAL:
$2,231,582 SALARY (AFTER 33% TAX)
$2,670,231 A & B PLAN & 7% 401(k)
TOTAL: $4,901,813

Where the big factor lies is EK pays housing and other costs, and CAL does not, so EK still comes out ahead if you stay in Dubai.

[jetpylot]

Where the big factor lies is EK pays housing and other costs, and CAL does not, so EK still comes out ahead if you stay in Dubai.

Don't forget the advantage of avoiding the taxman.

[ironbutt57]

It's a little bit about lifestyle as well...trust me if it was so attractive to yanks that have major airline jobs, there would be more over here knocking on the door...there just aren't are there? see ya!!

[Panama Jack]

ironbutt57 has got an excellent point.

Living in a trailerpark 53-miles out of Hartsfield in the Georgia countryside does have it's attractions as far as lifestyle and cost of living compared to Dubai is concerned. Besides, Dubai doesn't allow a honest hard-working law-abiding citizen to bring the 9mm Beretta, the Mossberg 590, the SKS, and the sweetheart Ruger Super Redhawk .44 (and the coondog would have to get a sh!tload of shots from the vet) so is it really worth it or is it sacrificing all these freedoms and all that really matters in life? :}

Delta Airlines faced an exodus of pilots before their pension plan was raped and pillaged. Many of those who were eligible, did the calculations and realized that they could take the money now, and get a job elsewhere-- remaining at Delta would have essentially been working for free for their last few years (assuming Delta were not to succumb to bankruptcy). Know of three DL pilots who came to the Middle East-- all of them excellent guys. One retired early, the other two were furloughed. The two furloughed guys are anxious to be recalled to DL. Unless there were to be some sort of major business disaster at Delta, I think for the most part, the outward flow has stopped.

[meaw]

''the two furloughed gyus are anxious to be recalled to DL''

I thought you had to resign before joining EK......When I got my offer from EK I turned it down because of precisely that rule.

[Panama Jack]

I said three DL pilots who came to the Middle East (no mention of Emirates). Emirates and the Middle East are not necessarily synonymous.

[ETOPS]

Ruger Super Redhawk .44

Nice weapon

http://gunsplanet.com/ruger/graphs/superredhawk.gif

Get a lot of 12 ft grizzly bears in Atlanta?

[readytocopy]

Ah!!!...the old American bashing....might we say to cover up our own inability.

[A300Man]

Does anyone know how the widget is doing on it's DXB-ATL routes? How are loads?

[HurryUp&Retire]

try 8-10yrs on the upgrade at DL not 15-20

[TangoUniform]

Upgrade to the 777? 15-20 years. Upgrade to -88 NYC, 10-15.

[HurryUp&Retire]

they have 8 777 (and some LRs on order i think). If you were hired today chances are you will never see the 777 at DL, but you know they have other airplanes...just a thought

[Desert Diner]

DL has lots of 767's even some of the old GF ones.

On a separate note: Why DXB-ATL and not DXB-JFK? Just curious as ATL would provide much more feeder traffic for the flight so I can pretty much guess their reasoning.

[Catwalker]

Okay, at the risk of displaying my ignorance, I have to ask: would someone please explain the "Widget" reference?

I've spoken to a former Atlanta Center controller, as well as some other Yanks, who's never heard of it either - Cockney rhyming slang, perhaps?

I'll brace myself for the response.

[AirNoServicesAustralia]

I don't know officially what the load factors have been, but on the flights to and from Atlanta this Summer the flights were packed (mostly filled with military men going home from Iraq/Afghanistan etc etc etc.). A couple of points though,

1. They charge $5 per alcoholic drink after your "complimentary" drink with dinner???!!!??? Maybe I am used to Cathay/Singapore/Emirates/Etihad/Malaysian but that seems a bit rough.

2. They have some free movies, but for a lot of them it is $5 to watch, and $2.50 to watch HBO TV series like Band of Brothers and Sex in the City. Thats $2.50 per episode!!??!!! Again maybe spoilt on all the airlines above but after shelling out 4,000 dirhams (plus 2,500 dirhams extra cos I had to change my dates ???!!??) this seems a bit cheeky.

3. Even when request for baby basinette is made on booking no plans are made to accomodate that until checkin so we were allocated normal economy seats in the middle of the cabin and apart from each other, even though we had a 2 year old (had his own seat purchased) and a 2 month old. So both legs we had to have everyones seats shuffled around to accomodate us. See airlines above to see operators that don't do it this way.

Bottom line is Delta have to realise that to compete with Asian airlines they need to up their standards otherwise they will continue to lose money. Having travelled United the year before I can see why American carriers are all bankrupt.

Oh, and why are all the cabin crew older than my grand mother. Personally I would be worried in an accident that they would all be in the aisle with broken hips instead of being in a position to help evacuate the passengers. Seriously the youngest cabin crew I saw on either leg would have been a 45 ish year old guy, and the rest were 50 +.

[Desert Diner]

Okay, at the risk of displaying my ignorance, I have to ask: would someone please explain the "Widget" reference?

I've spoken to a former Atlanta Center controller, as well as some other Yanks, who's never heard of it either - Cockney rhyming slang, perhaps?

I'll brace myself for the response.

Widget = Triangle = Delta

Not sure why, but as soon as I was the "widget" reference, I figured it out.
Been hanging around the brits for too long I suppose:rolleyes:

[Catwalker]

Desert Diner,

Thanks for that, although I'm still not sure about the Widget = Triangle thing.

I've been hanging around the Brits for awhile as well, but obviously not long enough . . .

[Desert Diner]

It's only when you can understand the regional accents (and even worse, the Scots) better than their fellow Brits that you know you've been out here for too long.

[TangoUniform]

I belive the two triangle symbol used at Delta was named the widget back in the 60s when that became its icon. Delta named for the Louisiana Delta, where Delta got its start back in the 20s.

[divingduck]

I have to say that the Delta pilots that I have spoken to thus far have been great.:ok:

OK it may take them 10 or 15 miles to drawl back that readback:E but at least they listen out, answer first time, and use their callsign! Qatari and Indian Air pilots please take note!:=

[JoeCo]

AirNoServeAus,
That was too funny! But that is so typical of ALL North American carriers. Just got back from the land of snow and it was the same bloody thing with AC?!?! We weren't dragging any kids with us, but saw what the people who were had to go through. I pitied them. On the flight over, if I wasnt the 1 billionth ass to have sat in that seat then I must have bean the 1 billionth and 1! I like how the frame of the seat starts digging into your backside just prior to push back! At least on your flight you had the option of renting a video, AC still had a single screen about 45 row ahead on the bulkhead! Oh and the variety of what to watch?!?! not to mentin the bragging of XM radio in the on board magazine, ...but not on this beat up old 67!! Must be on the 'other' airplanes?? Doing the other 8 hour flights. What am I talking about XM radio for, the music system went down about 10 minutes after we plugged the headset in. OH, I forgot to mention the nasty long black hair I found half way through my chicken!! like i wasnt enjoying the flight enough, they thru in a balck hair for good measures. lufthansa who we code shared with, well that was another story. They were pretty good. Better then ol' AC at least. but what I thought was the best touch was the metal utensils. Sure beat trying to butter a piece of bread with that slightly-harder-then-elastic knife AC gave us!! I'm surprised really, because the costs saving plan the have implemented with the wages they offer the front seaters I was sure they could have afforded reusable metal utensils?!!? So I'm thinking Business Class next trip for sure, right? But the stale green vomit colored Biz class decor I'm sure would have had us on the Gravel pills from about top of cruise. But on the upside, when its all over and you are finally released, at least flying on the National Carrier gives you a prefered gate which means you dont have far to walk to get your bags. :D

...and that's how my Summer Trip Home 2007 edition started?!?! Stay tuned for the 2008 edition. :}