Originally Posted by
sailingfun
SWA and UPS never kicked any ass let alone major ass. They contracts came on the backs of ALPA contracts. Even then Swapa only managed to achieve pay rates 40 dollars an hour below the ALPA rates. The meltdown of the industry and chapter 11 filings left SWAPA and the Cargo airlines at the top. They did not get there on their own merits. Absent 5 billion dollars in fuel hedges SWAPA would have had much lower pay rates today.
SWA just announced no growth for the 2012 or 2013. They can't take flying from the legacy airlines anymore. They don't like being on the top. They can't wait for the legacy airlines to get higher rates so they can retain their historical cost advantage.
As a UPS pilot I would have to agree. Our current pay rates when inflation based are almost exactly what they were in 1998 for Captains. Nobody back then was saying how great the pay was for us. We avoided the bankruptcies that crushed the passenger carriers which had nothing to do with our union kicking ass. We hire non union pilots directly to captain positions while furloughing union pilots....... we have our problems too