Originally Posted by gloopy

Good post. I would agree with what you said. And also say we should present "reasonable" proposals. Wait, what?

I just don't think we should go in with self defeating emo rhetoric like "by God you used to be able to buy a new Caddilac with a month's salary then so that is our goal" (BTW that would put most CA's around the 550K mark...well deserved but a 100% chance we would get parked forever and that's pretty obvious).

I agree with you completely about not aiming too low though. You can be both reasonable and present a very high water mark opener though. They don't have to be mutually exclusive. I think its "reasonable" to argue for SWA pay (rates and W-2) and SWA days off, both relative to small narrowbody flying and adjusted up from there. SWA is a successful, profitable, operationaly sound LCC. I would then argue for "reasonable" premiums over and above SWA:

Our per pilot revenue is significantly higher and we deserve some of that. Our intl pilots are cheaper than AF/KLM, so there is plenty of room to adjust upwards from there. JB flies a 100 seater (all coach, so really a 90-somethign seater) with their rates and again, our per pilot revenue is much higher. We have revenue premiums from a global network, first class, legacy brand and network flexibility other airlines can only dream of.

So start with SWA pay for 737-700's and JB pay for 90-something seaters and adjust to account for the reasonable premiums above those super ultra LCC's and see what you come up with. My back of the napkin math comes up with 50-60%+ on date of signing alone. Scope? Well all we want is SWA scope of 100%, you know, that darling ultra super LCC that can do no wrong? The same for work rules, etc.

If we just strut in and slam pay rates on the mediator's table with 60% raises because we're awesome and we deserve them, rest assured we will be laughed out of the room. But if we merely ask for LCC parity with reasonable premiums we will get to the same high water mark opener and just maybe get to the next step as well without getting parked.