Mark,

The 9 is a good,old school airplane.Pilots airplane.I get new hires that have been flying glass their whole lives,and that round-dialed nineosaur eats their lunch every time.Merger is sticking on the seniority list.Delta had 2000 guys go early and take a lump sum pension payout of about 1.5m.We saved our pension,and the senior guys stuck around,hence we will have 1500 more retirements than them in the next 5 years,and they don't want to hear that.Plus they have more crews per airframe than we do(we're leaner).No telling if it will happen.Only upside to me would be eventually driving to work in NY,rather than commuting to Detroit,my present base.

If you get out this way,come and see us.Regular guys,awesome flying site.Check out the website,Farviewflyers.net.
Take care,

Erik