The reason everyone keeps hyping on bag fees is because it did allow DAL to make a profit (in a lousy economy). As for whether DAL can "afford" to pay its pilots let's just do some simple math. We get half of that profit as a pay raise - $500 Million - that equates to a pay raise of $40,000 for every pilot. While this is more than 40% for the average FO and less than 40% for the average CA it does show that that DAL can afford a significant investment in its pilots without breaking the company. Also, as mentioned above $1 Billion dollar net profit and $2 Billion of free cash flow to pay down principal on our debt means DAL actually had $3 Billion of profit not $1 Billion. DAL can afford to give us significant raises for the contribution the pilots have made to a quick, smooth merger and a return to profitability (both companies were in the red before the merger). That doesn't even count the Billions in synergy the company has realized from the merger. It is time for DAL to put its money where its mouth is - we are always getting props from DAL about the great job we do - time to start paying us (with SWAPA, UPS, and FEDEX to shoot for) the company can no longer cry about pilot costs making CASM too high. Don't tell me we can't get at SWA+ (I don't require a big +).