The pay "rates" at AA will probably get better in the next contract but once QOL items are gone from the contract, they pretty much never come back from what I have seen. AA schedules and days off have been trending downward and will likely never get better again.

DAL, SWA and UAL destroy AA in QOL and day off averages for the vast majority of narrow body pilots. Which is worth far more than just pay rates in my book. Personally I would rather have an extra week off every month than get another few dollars an hour. My life at home is worth more than just an extra 15K a year at that level of compensation anyway. Who cares what the rates are if you only get 12-13 days off a month vs their 15-18 days off for junior pilots. (With more pay for the time you are at work to boot).

Unfortunately most people working for AAG seem to only see or care about the dollar amount of pay rates with little regard for work rules or QOL issues. So the fight will probably never be in the right place to "really" improve things.