Originally Posted by Bill Lumberg

The NMB stuff is just an EXCUSE. Sure, if you do like the APA before their BK and ask for a 50% immediate raise, then maybe the NMB may shake their heads. If you go in asking for a 15% raise the first year, plus 5-7% per year after that, and go for better rules and scope, essentially spreading it out but NOT minimizing it for the sake of being scared, then that should be acceptable. Is ALPA looking for a way out of ACTUALLY NEGOTIATING? Sure, the NMB is a GREAT EXCUSE. AMR and DL are different companies, with different financials. Other than size, you can't compare the two financially at all, and DL has already been through BK and taken care of things that AMR has yet to do, giving us the financial advantage. This type of reasoning is called DEFEATIST reasoning. The NMB is ALPA's Boogie man. Watch out for the Boogie Man, it MIGHT tell us to go in the corner.....oh no! What you are forgetting is that RA and management want to continue the consolidation roll, and don't want distractions from pilot negotiations that could get ugly (and produce a slower SOC if everyone is bogged down in negotiations).