W......no one can predict the next mr toads wild ride for the airline industry.

It is not, never has been, and never will be a stable industry. The fly in your pay rate perspective is apparently you have a belief pay rates are not impacted by the same disasters that would evaporate PS.

Have you been watching a different movie than the rest of us the last 30 years?

The very uncertainty and instability you cite is precisely the reason you should get as much as you can as early as you can. 20+% next feb is a far, far more certain reality than pay rates 3+ years in the future.