Originally Posted by BenderRodriguez

This is solely for debate purposes.

Leave the contract out of it for a second. It is YOUR opinion that we need more "internal investment", so let's roll with that first. Are you referring to employees pay and bennies? We are -allegedly- (I am having trouble keeping up with rampers' and FA pay) the highest paid in the industry, or at least very close to the top. What makes you think that the company needs to invest more in that area? Or are you talking about CAPEX and facilities?

Buybacks are to placate investors. They own the company. You and I just work here. When they see 25% of the profits being paid in bonus monies, they are thinking "that's more than enough, where's my ROI?" True. DAL has been printing money this year and last year. Why do you think you and I are more "entitled" to that than the owners? The share buybacks are not nearly as nefarious as some are making them out to be. There's plenty of money to go around, and we'll get our share, but to complain about the return to shareholders is nuts.

Waterloo has been bypassed by having low debt. It's gonna be interesting to watch the industry in the next economic downturn. I'll take $5B in debt over $20B in debt all day long.