Exactly.

They want want us under an agreement to further their reach and profitability, they will need to decide if they are willing to pay the price for their goals.

If we get to vote on (and it passes) anything remotely to what Sailing suggests, it makes many pilots' decisions easy on where to go wrt to their career.

Many have said the senior guys have run the number and know exactly what this or that will result in the results not effecting them, but another reality is true. The junior pilots are running their numbers as well. If DAL does not want to pay to keep talent and quality in the flight decks,there is a surprising number of pilots looking overseas. I suspect we will see some jump to FDX and UPS, but many will just go work overseas for a period of 10-15 years and then return to the states to finish their careers out on a commuting contract or start a business. It does make a lot of sense.

As T say, it is not ideal, but for many pilots looking at less than 25 years in the game, and at least 10 years to the half way mark in this seniority list. You have to look at the risk-reward of some other opportunity to meet life/retirement goals if your current employer is not willing to rationally share in the gains. Its business and nothing personal from what my of the pilots I have talked to who are looking. They want DAL to get it right, but their families come first.

The interesting note in all of this is that pilots are finding portability of their skill set, and to a larger degree than they have before. US airlines need to take note of this, and realize that the rest of the world is seeing the pilot shortage we are waiting for here. There will not be expats to fill the seats here. Pay must go up to get those interest in this career to jump in. It is pure economics.

We need to replace over half of this list in the next 15 years. If DAL wants to maintain their size and quality of their pilot force, the total package needs to come up. What I am seeing across the board is, no one is willing to compromise their contractual goals to get a deal done quickly. If our employer is unwilling to pay us what the rest of the World is paying pilots, many have started to formulate and exit strategy. The days of the lion's share of pilots using this job to pay the bills until the military pension shows up are disappearing. DAL and the rest of the US industry needs to realize that and adjust accordingly.