Maybe never, who knows. That doesn't change my point that UAL was too small to be sustainable -- they did it on purpose. UAL had many opportunities to terminate that contract, but never did. Clearly I wasn't involved in developing or executing their plans, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what was, and still is, going on. My guess (that's all it is) is that they were hedging the bets on the merger by retaining the ability to get those planes -- if that wasn't necessary they would be able to use the order as leverage with AB on other orders (A350, A340, etc...). It would be a win-win for the company by preserving flexibility. This line of reasoning will go nowhere with your pilot group, and I won't pretend that it will. It's not in your interests to see it for what it is and I accept that.

Since you are asking questions, let me pose one to you. Will you tell your LEC to direct the MEC & MC to sign a MFR that removes JCBA terms from the SLI? If not - why not. Thanks.