Yep, that 2008 post is totally accurate. Including the ridiculous bit about the 737s. The part about the contract extension was a super close vote and passed by 51%. The idea at the time was that Mesa was bleeding money in court getting sued by Hawaiian, Aloha, and Delta, losing money with Go! and the China operation, losing contracts and parking airplanes, and was in no position to offer the pilots anything substantial. It seemed a good idea to that tiny majority (which I was part of) to not kick the dog that was already down and out of the fight. Mesa was in a world of hurt back then (2008-2010) and it didn't seem like it would do any good. By voting to extend, we got PBS (which the company wanted) in return for line guarantees (which we wanted). It was of very short duration because we intended to come back and bargain for a real contract once the company got healthy again. That never happened. It became moot when the company entered bankruptcy in January, 2010. And that's the contract that still persists today, unfortunately.

It things had gone differently during those years and Mesa senior management hadn't driven the company into the ground, it might have been a very enjoyable contract to negotiate. Before things went south, the company was public, had a few hundred million (not a typo) in the bank, and doing well. Several egocentric, not too smart, and/or truly absurd (*delete the porn!) managerial decisions later, bankrupty.

*Some of you must remember this.