Originally Posted by Corona

Sorry pal, but you have it all wrong. Instead of shooting from the hip about things I did not know, I tracked down one of the negotiators and here are the answers he gave me:

Pay increases exceed historical inflation rate by more than 1% per year. F/O pay is just below the average highs among RAH's peer group, and well above the average of that peer group. First year F/O pay is the highest in that peer group and 9th year matches exactly the average high in that peer group. Hourly pay rate increases for F/O range from 11% per year to more than 29%.

There is no "hot reserve." There is long call reserve, short call reserve and airport standby, as contemplated by FAR 117. All three have considerable scheduling and pay protections that don't exist in our current CBA, which are designed to prevent company abuse.

Co-basing can only occur with mutual agreement on the terms, logistics and conditions between the Company and Union on a location by location basis. As of the DOS, there will be no co-bases that have such an agreement, including the example of the New York area listed in the LOA.

While language might appear vague to average pilot, the company and the union reached a large number of understandings of intent regarding such language that is recorded in the agreed upon record of joint bargaining notes between the parties.

Pilots must be contactable by their employer when at work and on duty--ONLY WHEN on duty and NOT when on a layover, in rest or on days-off. However, if reassigned when at work, there are all kinds of pay and scheduling protections, including extra pay for "plus-ups" and overblocking. In exchange, RAH pilots DO NOT continue to NOT have any form of junior manning, which each and every one of our peers has in some form or fashion. Consequently, days off at RAH are, in fact, days off and the abillity to commute home as planned is greatly enhanced.

Hard staffing requirements rarely, if ever, exist in the airline industry. However, new FAR 117 rules, along with the duty and trip rigs will force the company to staff in a more efficient manner.

On a historical basis, premium pay, while reached by a significant number of pilots each month, has never been that valuable a provision. Consequently, the threshold was raised from 85 to 87 in exchange for a number of more valuable provisions.

Company has to first allow captains to bid to fly as F/O. If insufficient number bid, then company can assign captains to fly as F/O in inverse seniority order. In all cases, such captains exercise their seniority against all F/O when bidding monthly schedules--meaning a junior captain can bid and fly a much more desirable line when flying as F/O then he could hold as F/O. Also, in all cases, such captains are paid their full captain pay and benefits for flying as F/O.

The cola increases are in excess of 4.1% in years 2, 3 & 4 of the contract, and in excess of 4.6% on the amendable date, for a compounded increase of 18.17% over the contracts duration. Those percentages are significantly higher than historical inflation or COLA increases