Originally Posted by alfaromeo

What I mean is that in the final stages of negotiations, we weren't arguing about $100 million or $50 million, we were arguing about a few million or a 1/5% raise. Imagine having 350 different turns in a house negotiation. Those last ten turns you are arguing about the drapes and the ceiling fan, not whether the price of the house is going to be $500,000 or $400,000.

I understand for pilots, they see the deal for the first time and they may assume it is the first offer. If you take the first offer then maybe there is another 10 or 15% left on the table. After the 350th offer, there is not 10 or 15% left on the table, there are crumbs. You pick up whatever crumbs you have and then go find out if the MEC and the pilots want to take the deal.

Take it or leave it, that's your choice. But don't reject it thinking there are anything else but crumbs left on the table. Richard Anderson is a good boss but he is a very hard man. If you haven't met him you will find that out very quickly when you do. If someone thinks he will start crying and fork over gobs of money with a rejected TA, then you have never met him. He has already formulated the plan to follow if there is no deal and he will execute that plan. From his viewpoint, Delta pilots already cost more per block hour than any other pilot group so he is more than ready to wait for some other pilot group to raise that bar.

He views his major competition as United. Right now Delta pilots make about $40,000 to $50,000 more than they do and have better work rules and worse productivity. That is how he views us. If we can add value to Delta then we will be rewarded. Don't add value and there is no reason to reward us. That is capitalism at its most raw form.