One thing that many must remember of LOA 19/JPWA is this:

In the CH1 LOA 51 for pre-merger DAL pilots was that the longevity steps were determined on profitability. What this last agreement did away with that part of the deal and allowed a traditional 5,4,4,4 with more in the 401K. Many voted yes because they got rid of that horrible rider of future earnings.

From the fNWA perspective, they got an agreement that raised their rates, and was equal to those of the DAL pilots. Everyone was equal day one outside of the 401K targeting plan that they had. It was far from perfect for them, but provided a little breathing room from their CH11 deal as well.

One must remember where we were when the merger and this agreement went down. Times have changed, and we are working for a profitable company that has a really good change of tripling or better their profit going forward. Because of this, expectations are significantly more.

Could we have gotten more out of that? Yes, but lets also remember that hindsight is 20/20 and we had an airline that was getting crushed by oil and the every widening crack spread.

We as a group need to realize that from this point forward, we are a very well run airline, that has leaders that are insistent on doing it differently than the past. AMR is trying the old school CH11, and it will not work for them. UCAL is trying the old school merger, and it is not working for them. Anderson and co want to take a different path. What it entails and where it goes depends, but the result is pilots of this group expect to have linear restorative gains on that success,that though their deep sacrifices DAL was able to survive and be in position to spearhead the industry. Without those sacrifices this airline would be non-existent and this talk would not be taking place.