Add to that the fact that way back in the day - well before bankruptcy - when I was plumbing on a 727, I remember SWA signing a lengthy contract (if memory serves well, it was 10 years) with an annual pay increase of ~3% or so. The rest of the pilot groups were incredulous at that because we could expect HUGE raises every year... You are right, the SWA guys are the ultimate in constructive engagement tacticians, yet that FACT is continually left out of the argument... only the results of that are acknowledged, and even then only because those results are cherry picked to suit the argument. So for starters, I wouldn't trade our 14% CONTRIBUTION for their 9% MATCH.. why is THAT never used in the arguments about how far 'behind' we are in compensation?

It will never be good enough because no matter how much we make, there will be a percentage that will live hand to mouth. I have seen that for over 20 years now. When I was a pup I was amazed at captains pulling down over $100k/year that would count pennies for the van driver tip (DAL used to reimburse us for tips) For whatever reasons, there will always be a percentage to which that applies. Second standard deviation I believe. There will also be those on the other end of the bell curve that could afford to take a pay cut and not be affected. It is the middle part of the curve that needs to be satisfied. Even Obama figured that out.....

I truly believe the problem going forward is that nobody has raised the bar with any meaningful advances. We have to pattern bargain off of ourselves. But the doughnuts believe this is not a factor, and will simply get management and the shareholders to ignore that because of our past history. If they ever man up and call for a vote.. and if they win, it would be comical if it weren't so sad to watch reality set in and career stagnation to once again rear it's head.

But then, guys like Carl have it all figured out.

I'm guessing the Bahamas is where you'll find him since he has a 6 figure retirement coming....