Originally Posted by sailingfun

I am on the side of making sure we get the largest raises possible and the highest possible quality of life for me and my family while also taking care of the junior pilots. If we could by magic get the NMB to release us at the amendable date we could force the company into a contract that would be the envy of every pilot in the world. It would be great for me. I suspect the bottom quarter of the seniority list would not like it much when the airline could no long compete to add flying and starting losing it rapidly.
Most pilots posting here are clueless about the contract process and what is involved. One of the things is costing. You have to use accurate numbers or you lose credibility. That will be critical with the NMB.
You can't use a SW number of average hours they fly and then use a Delta number based on 75 hours per month. You have to use the Delta average. Its over 1100 hours a month much like at SW. On the 737 that puts the Average Delta CA around 194k a year plus another 9K more then a SW guy gets in the DC plan. or over 200K. Still that a lot less then SW but not quite what is posted here.
There is a valid argument that the MD88 should be compared with SW. That is however debatable. The company will quickly point out that they agreed to the higher pay rates on the 737NG based on how efficient the airframe was and the extra profit it would generate. That was our position during the 3b6 process on the airframe. Now we are going to reverse that position and base it on seats. That may or may not fly with the NMB.
The bottom line is you can talk all day about SW. They have never generated anything industry leading. I don't really care about SW. I care about Delta and our future contract. I expect to see us get back to our historical quality of life advantage and pay advantage. Trying to make direct comparisons with flawed data is not the right way to start out negotiations.