The $20K bonus is not part of the pay package, and I always understood that clearly. I think it's a mechanism to...
1) Allow the company to incentivize retention if needed
2) Ensure that the whole pilot group gets treated fairly, ie no targeted bonuses at certain fleets/longevity demographics.
So it's a not a promise or potential bonus, it's just a statement that everybody gets the same bonus if it comes to that.