Oh and conceding airframes . . . contracts are a chess game. So you would have gone to the mat for the issue of scope, great. You would have stood up to the company and said "NO 76 SEATERS I DRAW THE LINE HERE." and the company would have said "Alright that costs x dollars; how are you going to pay for that?" And YOU would have traded a tighter scope for . . .

No, no . . . I know they would have given in to the strike which we would have had x number of years after the negotiations were brought to a conclusion and we were released . . .

Give me a break. What was the alternative strategy? Given the tripartite nature of our negotiations lets give ALPA a little credit for not totally screwing the pooch. UAL got the SLI and a pay raise and CAL got work rule improvements appreciated by some and dismissed by others. It ain't perfect, but it wasn't a disaster and I'd love to see people actually post a comprehensive alternative that had some chance of succeeding in a reasonable amount of time.