First, I agree that the 16 year contract insulated American Eagle (Envoy) from the Regional market for too much for too long. Too many of our pilots as a result became disconnected to the realities around them which in turn led to the absolute nonsense we saw in 2014 when 70% of Envoy pilots rejected a perfectly good contract under the premise of "Nobody else can staff". PSA didn't make Envoy vote NO to that contract and in so far as that goes Envoy has nobody to blame but themselves.

But prior to that 16 year contract the whipsaw game was alive and well at AA with all the various Eagles. Yes, we were a collection of various wholly owned companies who flew under the "American Eagle" brand prior to 1997, just like today. Except back then there were many more than 3. All the Eagles back then were whipsawed against one another with extreme prejudice. Things got ugly...and I don't mean "acting like children on the internet" ugly. I'm talking about actual fights in crew rooms between pilot groups and more.

Then in 1997 we were all merged as American Eagle and lived under a 16 year contract. That contract provided stability in what is a very unstable industry. Most importantly it protected us from the worse era in aviation history: 9/11 and the fallout of the next decade.