Originally Posted by oldmako

Gettinbumped,

You're welcome.

I assumed that someone would hop on my comment. But here's where we differ. My fear is that after we agree to this, UA will have us right where they want us. Namely, cheap relative to DAL when looking at total cost. Forget the straight hourly rate, there is a ton of compensation buried in work rules, sick leave accrual, vacation pay/override, etc. For example:

DAL already has a 5.4 (vs our 5.0) rig do they not? Add that up over a year (lets say 16 days per month X 12 and you wind up north of 76 hours) and you could receive an additional full months pay. Take that 76 hours at 180 bucks and add another 2 grand to your B/C fund. Small numbers add up fast, especially if you're a new hire and have 20 years to go. As another example, I used to fly Bus 4 days with a 31 hour break in CLE. Because there was no duty period that day, our rig didn't apply. Road apples.

After we agree to FRMS / 117 relief, UALco will have zero incentive to negotiate. Just this week, KWI-IAD cancelled at least twice due to crew. Cancellations like that are happening system wide, every week. That's huge leverage and we're letting it go for peanuts as this place is sloshing cash. Hell, they're giving the shareholders 4 billion and Oscar (at least) 28 million.

Without leverage, any previous foot dragging employed by them will look amateurish in comparison. I have zero confidence that this group has the stones to mount a cohesive front, and I fear that will worsen as we move forward. That's when I think time will work against us.

There is a lot to consider in this TA. Some of the arguments posted (on both forums) appear facile to me. Leverage and profitability are both fleeting. Maximize both while you can.