I've only got payscales going back to 1990, but there haven't been any "ups and downs" in Southwest pay rates. I don't know how to do the FtB magic posting of excel docs, but your tfp converted to hourly rates undercut Delta by a minimum of 15% in September 1991 (DAL$143.21/LUV $122.04) up to 37% in May 2004 (DAL $256/LUV $162). Our pay plunged 32.5% with LOA-46 in December 2004, and was reduced a further 14% in December 2005. LOA-46 was the first time your payrates equaled ours; prior to that your company had created a labor arbitrage where your pilots worked for less in wages but "made it up" in growth. Your CEO sent a cautionary letter in December now that the rest of the industry is below you in wage rates and the arbitrage is no longer working.

Your contract is amendable in September, no? Maybe you guys can finally raise the bar for others to pull up on rather than what you've done throughout your history.