Sorry....I really wasn't intending to "answer anything".

My intent was to let folks on here know that while debating issues like this on the web can pass the time and be fun and sometimes cause you to think of questions you may not have thought of before or view the issue in a different light, at the end of the day only a handful of people have the REAL answers (not secret answers either)......usually that handful of people is not anyone who posts here.

I tend to agree with Captain Kelly in that if you want the facts - and not rumor and speculation - you need to ask the people who actually know the facts.

Also.....my intent was to point out that the Company and ALPA have both failed miserably (up until now) about communicating the FACTS surrounding this LOA to us lowly line swine - failed miserably - not only by their silence in response to our questions, but mostly by publishing a very vague (at best) document for us to consider ratifying.

This has caused people on this forum - and in the cockpits - and on layovers - to draw their own conclusions based on emotion, conjecture, and people stirring the pot on this web site - who (obvious to me) probably haven't even taken the time to actually READ the thing (as evidenced by everyone talking about SVTs when it is really STVs - did they even read the title of the section they're belly-aching about??) We've been forced to get together here and try to figure out the details for ourselves - not good in a lot of ways.

Here's an example of a couple of questions I had -

1. where in the LOA is it written that the company has "agreed" to provide on-duty ground transportation from HKG to CAN? If it isn't written, we won't be able to hold them to it later on down the road when they decide its not in their best interest to continue to provide it.
Union answer -
Under the proposed LOA, our base would be Hong Kong . It is management’s responsibility to deadhead crews that start the flying portion of their trip outside of HKG, just as is the case for us in ANC when a trip starts from somewhere other than Anchorage International Airport. Had management prevailed and established Guangzhou (CAN) as the base, pilots would have been responsible to get themselves to the CAN hub.

The clock also starts ticking once you begin the ground transport from HKG. You begin your duty and trip rig. Such would not be the case if CAN were the base. The clock would begin ticking once you arrived in CAN. The exemptions in the LOA apply to capping the GT credit to 2 ½ hours and having the SIG waive long GT times on a leg by leg basis. You would not get paid greater than 2 hour pay if the GT time triggered it.

Another question was - why $10,000 and not $10,000 OR 79 CH whichever is HIGHER - WHAT's UP WITH THAT???!!! (with emphasis because I read on APC that we were getting screwed out of the OR 79 CH and we were getting screwed out of ANY extra cash if we chose Relocation Option #1 - existing CBA option)

Turns out Captain Kelly pointed out that if you choose Option #1 - existing CBA option - where it says (FDA Bonus shall be inapplicable) - that section is actually a relocation bonus (in the CBA) that you don't/won't get - YOU STILL GET THE $10K or 79 CH whichever's higher as "seed money" - the two cash payments are in different sections of Chapter 6 of the CBA and only the one in 6.E.1.e. (not the $10K or 79CH) is inapplicable. The Company guy actually answered that one.

I was convinced from what I read on APC that the company was screwing me/us on that one.

These are two of my MANY questions. Most of my questions have been posted by others ad-nausium on this site - only to be answered by people here who don't really know, but can make an educated guess that will surely whip all the NO-voters into more of a frenzy.

I'm not saying that all my questions have been answered with answers I agree with and/or like either. But I feel that I have gotten straight/truthful answers of FACT on what has been negotiated (and YES, I believe there was a negotiation from talking to the ALPA and Company guys I talked to) and not just internet speculation and rumors.

Also, where neither side even knows exactly the details of the answer - like how's the ground transportation going to actually work when everyone lives in 50 different apartments around HKG within a 100nm radius? how, exactly are we all gonna get to work and back? or what kind of schedules are going to be flown/required? Both the union and company have said they don't even know exactly how it's all gonna work yet.

They do both agree that both the company and the union BOTH want US to man the bases - and both feel that the LOA is an overall positive for both the company and the pilots.

I'm not saying I'm sold either way - so don't shoot the messenger.

I'm just saying that everyone I've asked my questions to (ALPA and Company) outside this message board has finally gotten back to me with details and answers that I think are FACTUAL. I hope they are getting back to others who post here too. And I think a LOT of people on here are missing the boat and are maybe just outright wrong.

Like I said....."What we have here is a failure to communicate" - but I think its starting to work itself out.

(we finally also got the long-awaited "Minority Opinion")

Keep asking the questions and make an informed decision.