Delta Detroit base: the Midwest hub, the Asia and Europe from DTW, the affordable base nobody bids
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#1 Delta Atlanta, year one, reserve, and I have been reading the base threads (Atlanta, New York, Seattle) and the transfer thread, and the Detroit base is the one the Atlanta reserves talk about as the secret. I asked the Detroit crew on my last three trips and here is what they told me, written with their permission, because nobody has written Detroit.
The base
Delta's Detroit hub, a big one, the Midwest gateway, domestic to everywhere, and an international that is larger than people outside the base know: Amsterdam, Paris, London, Frankfurt, Rome, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, and the seasonal Europe. The A350s and the A330s on the Asia and Europe from Detroit, which the Detroit crew say the Atlanta crew forget.
Why nobody bids it
Detroit. The city's reputation, the winter, the sense that it is not Atlanta or New York or Seattle. The new hires put it last on the base preference and the Atlanta reserves do not think of it as a transfer.
Why the Detroit crew hold international earlier than anyone
Because nobody bids it: the Detroit list is short, the international flying is large, and a Detroit crew member holds a line in months and Europe in a year and Asia at mid seniority, earlier than Atlanta and far earlier than New York. The Detroit crew described it as the best kept secret in the system and asked me not to write it, and then said write it, because the base needs crew.
The affordable base
Detroit and the suburbs are among the cheapest places to live near a Delta hub, and the crew live in the northern suburbs (Royal Oak, Ferndale, the Ann Arbor commuters) in houses on a cabin crew salary, which the New York crew read with the disbelief the Manchester Virgin thread described for the Heathrow crew. The winter is Chicago's winter. The summer is the lakes.
The Detroit crew's Detroit
The city is not the reputation, the crew said: the downtown has come back, the music and the food are real, the lakes are an hour away, and the crew who moved there for the line stayed for the city. The ones who came from Atlanta describe the crew room as smaller and friendlier and the operation as a hub that runs without the Atlanta scale.
For the Delta new hires and the Atlanta reserves
The Detroit base is the line in months, the Europe in a year, the Asia at mid seniority, the house on a cabin crew salary, and the winter. The Detroit crew would like it kept secret and would like more crew, which is a contradiction they are living with. I have put it on my transfer list for year two and the Atlanta crew think I am joking.
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#2 Atlanta, and the Detroit secret is real and the Atlanta crew who transferred there for the line are the ones who come back to visit and say the house thing. Brandon has written the base the Detroit crew wanted kept secret and needed written. The Asia from DTW is the thing Atlanta forgets.
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#3 Delta New York reserve, and 'holds a line in months and Europe in a year' from Detroit against my year three reserve at JFK is the sentence that makes the Detroit winter sound warm. The disbelief about the house is real. I have read it twice.
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#4 JFK, and the Detroit base as the best kept secret in the system is the thing the JFK reserves say at 3am in the crash pad and never act on because New York is the reason. Brandon acting on it in year two is the sane one again.
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#5 Alaska Seattle, and the Delta Seattle crew I wrote about will be annoyed that Detroit is the new secret. The Midwest hub with the Asia on a short list is the Delta version of Chicago at United. The winter is the price everywhere it is cheap.
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#6 United LAX, and the Detroit at Delta is the Chicago at United with a shorter list and a cheaper city: the compromise base that is the good one. Brandon's year two transfer list is the right list. The Atlanta crew joking is the usual reaction before the transfer.
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#7 American Chicago, and the Midwest hubs at all three majors (Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis) are the lines in months and the houses and the winters, and the coastal crew do not believe it until they visit. Brandon's Detroit is the Delta chapter.
