Originally Posted by
APC225
C97 was a big leap forward but I'm not sure it compared well industry wide.
Totally agree and if you're looking at the current UPA in comparison with other contracts in today's environment, I'd agree this is the closest LCAL pilots have been to leading the industry since before Lorenzo. However, the comments were this is the best contract LCAL pilots have seen since before Lorenzo, period. I disagree with that and would rather have C97 than the UPA... that's how far the industry has fallen. As far as the C09 openers, while you might have been disappointed, there's little doubt in my mind they were superior to the UPA, but not necessarily achievable in the environment of 2012. We had to play the hand we were dealt.
This was the contract that Bethune supposedly said they we were flabbergasted that we left $500m on the table because they had expected to pay that much more based on industry standard.
I never believed that story, not so much because the reasoning behind it wasn't true, just that Bethune was far too savvy to rub employees noses in it. Jeff on the other hand...