Avoid a $1.2 Million Mistake: Double-Check Your Beneficiaries 

There has been an increase of events where pilots, including young pilots with small children, have failed to update their beneficiaries or have an incorrect name as their listed beneficiary (e.g., ex-spouse). If you’re divorced or even recently married, this especially applies to you. Legally, if an individual is listed as your beneficiary, nothing can be done to transfer those assets to someone not listed as a beneficiary in the event of a pilot's death. A missing or incorrect beneficiary will leave the intended beneficiary unprotected. It only takes a few minutes to update your forms now. Please take a moment to review your beneficiaries for your 401(k), MBCBP, DPMA, and any other accounts that permit the assignment of a beneficiary.

You can review your MetLife beneficiary designations at MetLife.com

1. Select Benefits & Coverage 
2. Select Group Life Insurance (View Policy)
3. Select Beneficiaries

You can review your Fidelity beneficiary designations right now at fidelity.com:

1. Open your Profile
2. Select Beneficiaries
3. Ensure your 401k, MBCBP, and any other accounts all reflect your wishes

You can update your DPMA beneficiary designations at DPMA.org via an online form.

If you realize that your Will, Powers of Attorney, and Advanced Medical Directives are out of date, Delta pays for you to have legal services that cover the costs of basic legal documents. The phone number is 1-800-621-6400. You will need code 300533 and a list of attorneys in your area of residence will be provided to you.

AE Bidding Guidance

With the relatively large AE bids occurring every month, the Training Committee would like to provide some insights to pilots based on recent feedback that we have received.

First, as obvious as it might seem, we would like to recommend that pilots periodically review their standing AE bids (including after an award) to verify that the bid still reflects their preferences. We receive phone calls almost every time a bid closes from panicked pilots who received an unexpected award because they didn’t realize that they had a bid entered. There are very few options available in this case other than using your once in a career training withdrawal (11 G.7).

Also, when you are entering or verifying your AE bid, we recommend that you take screenshots of each page of your bid entry with the date and time visible. This includes the preference pages.

For MacBook users:

• Use Command + Shift + 3 to take a screenshot of the page (Make sure your mouse is hovering at the top of the screen to include the date/time).

For Windows users

• Use Windows Key + Prtscn.

For first time captain bids, we also recommend that you look at the short upgrade (SUG) curriculum in your fleet’s student guide and consider whether it would be better to opt for the full initial qualification course instead. We often hear feedback that the short course is faster paced than many pilots expected, and we have seen numerous training failures and voluntary withdrawals from that course over the past year.

September CQ

The Training Committee has had numerous pilots reach out in the past week regarding the lack of CQ patterns available for the September bid period. September is a transition month, meaning that it is the last month of the outgoing 601/641 (LOE) cycle and the first month of the new 602/642 (MV) cycle. While it is not unheard of for there to be zero CQ patterns available in a given category, it appears to be more widespread in September due to the amount of hiring Delta is doing and the associated lack of simulator availability.

If you log in to NavBlue and see no training patterns available, you can verify that your category is  one with no patterns available by searching for your CQ bid package on the Crew Resources / Scheduling page on DeltaNet.

350 Standalone eLearning

On July 15, all 350 pilots were assigned a standalone eLearning module focused on the new batch 8 software. This module has a 30 minute run time but will pay 60 minutes as this is the contractual minimum. The learning must be completed by August 15.

Joint Message from CASC and PAFCA

Seasonal Uptick in Low Fuel Events
Summer operations are now in full swing, and with that comes the typical challenges of the season – thunderstorms, re-routes, delays, and diversions. Historically, there has been a seasonal spike in low fuel events associated with these challenges. Due to this trend, the Delta MEC Central Air Safety Committee and the Professional Airline Flight Control Association would like to remind our pilots and Dispatchers of the following threats and mitigations to ensure that everyone has the best information in order to work together as a team on every flight.

Threats:

• Multiple Go-Arounds. The highest driver of low fuel events is multiple go-arounds (more than 2) and subsequent approaches without an alternate. All flights are planned with contingency fuel that takes into account expected weather and delays. However, keep in mind that for those flights that do not have an alternate, the threat of a low fuel event due to multiple approaches increases.
• Alternate Planning. Since flight plans are created well ahead of scheduled departure times (90-150 minutes prior), weather at the planned alternate may change. The listed flight plan alternate may not be the prudent plan once enroute. Dispatchers always monitor destination and alternate weather and will proactively change alternate airports if conditions warrant.

Mitigation Strategies:

• Start the conversation early.  If you have any questions regarding a filed alternate, reach out to your Dispatcher early to discuss your concerns. Just because the flight plan has one airport listed does not mean the flight is required to use that airport. No alternate filed? Think about crosswinds, operational challenges, and other factors that could potentially lead to multiple go-arounds. Everyone should think about, discuss, and set a realistic fuel value for diversion planning.

• En route adjustments are okay. Once airborne, if you notice a concerning fuel trend or anticipate holding, go-arounds, or diversions, work with your Dispatcher to reassess options and expand your team. Remember to also consider your alternate, if you haven’t already. Does that still look like a good plan? Are there other airports that might be better options now? Your Dispatcher may also change an alternate based on earlier diversion and station capacity.

• When in doubt, ask for fuel. Never hesitate to ask for more fuel.

2026 Hurricane and Wildfire Season

The 2026 Hurricane and wildfire season is upon us. The Atlantic and Pacific basins have been mildly active thus far with two named storms, but have an active outlook for rest of the season.

If you live in an area prone to tropical storms, hurricanes and/or wildfires, you should already be prepared by having a plan in place. In your preparation, you might not have considered the ALPA financial resources available in case you and your family suffer damages due to a natural disaster.

ALPA Resources

• FERF - If you need assistance, please call the Delta MEC office at 1- 800-USA-ALPA during normal business hours to find out more information about applying for assistance from the fund. You can click here for the FERF application which is also located on the Delta MEC Website.
• P4P - The ALPA “Pilots for Pilots” Emergency Relief Fund is a nonprofit corporation established to provide ALPA members and their dependents with grants and other financial assistance to help alleviate immediate hardships resulting from an unpredictable and unfortunate event. Please click here to visit the P4P page on the ALPA Website.