If I'm remembering correctly I put 38% (which I intended over the life of the contract). This was my "back of the napkin" wag to bring MD-88 FO (me) up to SWA pay. Admittedly, I did not count DC and was using APC number for my SWA pay number.

Obviously my number was not met. Did I really think I'd see 38%? No

Did I think we'd have an agreement 6 months AHEAD of the amendable date? Not a chance.

I am usually on reserve (sometimes by choice, sometimes not) and the reserve guarantee bump also has to be considered a gain. I'm not trying to talk you into anything, just trying to consolidate my thoughts (I think, ha!)

Now that we have an offer on the table, I'm simply weighing what we have versus what I feel is achievable. There is no question that I want more money, and feel we deserve more money. I've come to the conclusion though that voting NO is not likely to get me any closer to that goal. In fact, it seems like if we take this fairly short-duration contract which adds almost 20% we might be able to pile some more on in short order.

I honestly thought that C2012 would turn out to be more like C2014, so I'm viewing this as almost as an extension. If we can add almost 20% every 2.5 years I'll be very happy with our position.

Just my thoughts