Absolutely! If I got paid 50% more I'd be able to fly one third less hours for the same W2 as I get now. The last 10 years we've lost the pay and retirement battle so you've got guys flying FAR max month after month, coming to work sometimes tired, sometimes sick, and sometimes just worn out.

Pay is directly linked to QOL and QOL to safety. The MBAs have successfully convinced a generation of pilots that there is no connection between pay/QOL and safety, that a contract is primarily about the pay scales on page 53.

It's not. It's about safety, first and last. And that safety is arrived at by putting into a contract the appropriate pay and QOL so that when we arrive at the plane we are at our best.

Lorenzo figured this out in the '80s, did the opposite, and CAL dragged the entire industry down for 30 years. Pay less, work harder. There have been three 777 captains stroke out in the last three weeks, one right in the jetway [correction: three pilots, grave medicals, one in customs]. It takes a toll.

Let's hope we get it all back in this round.