Originally Posted by Hueypilot

I'm not afraid of arbitration, but I'll point out that we will not recoup the extra pay by the end of the MTA/MOU. Some of us LUS Third-Listers got together and did the math, just to help us see the difference and whether it mattered or not when (or if) it comes time for a vote.

Assuming Delta has a contract in place on January 1, 2016 (which is debatable), they would need an 11.9% raise in order to MEET the proposed pay rates. So in order to recoup the lost value of 2015, Delta's pay scales will need to increase substantially above that, and I don't think we'll see them get 11.9% in one year, much less a greater amount.

Paul DiOrio (PHL) stated last night that Delta would need a 5% raise to get us to the same point as the agreement, but we did the math, and that's not even close. I actually started the calculations out assuming a 5% DAL increase and still fell short by several dollars per hour once I came up with the averaged 2016 parity rate.

So whatever you decide based on what APA can work out, that's your business. But as far as the economic ends of this "deal", going to arbitration will result in much less. If APA can soften up the 7 items the company is asking for, we'll all have to decide what that's worth.

Originally Posted by Hueypilot

For me, some of those items aren't that big of a deal. Others are a big deal and it'll depend on how (or if) the NC can work anything out that's palatable. Here's how I break it down:

1. 2 hour report time (to check-in): This would be OK for some places, like CLT. But it's completely unreasonable for many other domiciles like MIA, LAX and NYC. I don't want to see our pilots getting disciplined for trying to speed to work in a large metro area. This language needs to change or go away.

2. Eliminate the Home Base Time carve out: I'm not 100% sure about this, but I believe it allows scheduling to more "efficiently" use pilots without any home base time requirements. If that's the case, this language needs to change to avoid abuse.

3. Vacancy Bids: Minor concessions, although I'll admit I'm not sure how it will affect our bidding. I need to read more about how this could affect everyone.

4. Benefits Excise Tax: At this point, this tax is hypothetical because the law has not gone in effect, and it may not go into effect if the Republicans repeal it. It's highly unpopular because it affects a large number of people, plus it's not something that's really the company's fault. You can thank your friends in DC for that one. In any case, I'm not sure we should get hung up on this at this point.

5. Amenable Date: The current MOU/MTA expires December 31, 2018 and is amenable January 1, 2019. They want to extend by a year to January 1, 2020, and extend the HRA to the end of this proposed deal. It's personal opinion on what one year's worth is valued to each of us, but at least we still receive one more 3% pay bump in 2019 to sort of make up for it. To me, I'm on the fence about this one.

6. Overnight landing sim: If you don't fly enough, you'll get to do this once every three months, tops. Maybe it's just my past military background where midnight sims were actually pretty normal, I don't know. But I'm not really upset about that one. Maybe APA can work with the company to set some ROEs one when the company can use midnight sims.

7. Combine International and Domestic Divisions: I understand that at LAA, this keeps people from getting lines they don't want. But LAA seems to be one of the only airlines I'm aware of that has two separate divisions. I know we didn't at LUS. So again, I'm kind of ambivalent about this one.