July 1, 2026

Fellow Delta Pilots,

As we head into the Fourth of July weekend, I want to update you on your Union's work to enforce our current contract and negotiate our next one. Holiday periods place the heaviest demands on our operation with peak load factors, unpredictable weather, and tight staffing. Once again, it is the Delta pilots who will keep things moving.

Contract Enforcement

To start, this week we are pleased to announce a settlement agreement between ALPA and the Company on their implementation of PWA Section 5 C. and our hard-fought Crew Meal benefits. The settlement resolves the open grievance by providing clear catering guidance, increased compensation for service failures, and the reestablishment of consistent arrival meals on long-haul flights. This settlement aims to finally implement these benefits to the standards intended during C2019 negotiations and is the result of steadfast determination by the Association on your behalf.

While this is a welcomed development, unfortunately, we continue to see numerous other blatant violations of our PWA and have exhausted efforts to resolve these disputes directly with Flight Operations. We have recently filed several MEC grievances that include the Company’s unilateral actions related to pre-plotted rest, manipulation of block times, Payback Day usage and the Company's unilateral implementation of a reliability program outside established processes under Sections 14 and 18 of our PWA. Updates on these, as well as all other current outstanding grievances, can be accessed via the Delta MEC Grievance Tracker website and the associated “Issue Sheet” publications.

Contract 2026 Negotiations

Nearly three months into Contract 2026 negotiations, your Negotiating Committee (NC) has presented a focused and deliberate set of high impact priorities and has, up to this point, worked extensively to solve the broken trip coverage process and ongoing scheduling chaos.

Fixing these issues was never going to be simple. As reported in Negotiators' Notepad 26-02, after eight weeks at the table, your Negotiating Committee has developed a general framework that preserves our existing seniority-based system while also limiting the Company's ability to call large numbers of pilots at all hours of the day and night for trips they are unlikely to be awarded. As your NC has stated, these proposals reduce the time required to cover a trip by more than 80%. Several details remain to be finalized, but this is real progress on a problem that has disrupted our pilot’s quality of life both while at work, and at home.

Although trip coverage has been discussed at length over the last three months, it was never the only priority. Setting the bar on compensation and retirement contributions, strengthened scope protections, improved deadhead and lodging language, increased vacation value, expanded travel benefits, and stronger commuter protections all remain on the table, as outlined in our April contract opener. These are the items that will define the value of this agreement, and without them there will be no deal.

The expedited and consolidated path we chose was built on a simple premise — deliver substantial value to Delta pilots via a limited number of high value items on an accelerated timeline. The NC has bargaining sessions scheduled throughout the summer, and if those sessions produce the value our pilots expect and deserve, this path remains the right one. If it becomes clear that the Company is unwilling to provide that value through a limited number of items, your Negotiating Committee and MEC are prepared to expand to a more comprehensive Section 6 process necessary to secure the agreement Delta pilots have earned.

Setting the Record Straight

While these negotiations continue, Delta passengers are living with disruptions that are the product of years of compounding decisions. Sporadic attempts to stretch our pilots way too thin, repeated operational missteps, and a pattern of the Company seeking reactive changes to trip coverage parameters and ARCOS programming, each one a workaround rather than a fix, have added friction to our long-standing scheduling system.

To its credit, the Company is now hiring aggressively to address their self-imposed staffing shortfall. That is welcomed and a step in the right direction, but it remains clear that the disruptions throughout the last year are not the result of our contract, or the pilots flying under it. They are the consequence of decisions made over several years that this pilot group did not make and could not prevent.

That’s why this week the Delta MEC is launching DeltaPilotsCare.com — a Summer Survival series that speaks directly to the traveling public. When travelers ask what is happening, our pilots deserve clear, straightforward information to share — information about the realities of our profession and the airline industry that are not always readily apparent to our passengers. We want our pilots equipped to support their passengers with confidence, and we want the traveling public to better understand what is actually driving the disruptions they experience as well as their rights under DOT & EU regulations.

Our passengers deserve a reliable airline. So do you.

As you head into this holiday weekend, know that your union is advocating on your behalf. Every day, Delta pilots’ professionalism in the flight deck earns the high regard we carry amongst our peers and our passengers alike. Please continue to proudly wear your ALPA pin, lanyard, and C2026 bag tag while flying the line, and consider attending an upcoming local council meeting or PUB event in your base this summer. Thank you for your professionalism and the trust you place in your Union.

In Unity,