Sapa Prez update made my eyes roll into the back of my head but I do agree that many big good things happened in 2017 for this pilot group.
- Loss of medical insurance (I distrust insurance people to actually pay out though)
- 401k, increased per diem
- Soft Landings
- 3 new pilot bases
- Grew by 64 planes
- EFB E-Release, Good progress towards e-mx can and e-manifest
- Upgrade dropped to a *qualified* new hire.
Not a single give back.
I thought it was funny that our 5 year agreement was called a 3.5 year agreement since it will only go 3.5 years past when the old was previously scheduled to expire.
The idea that our agreement made other airlines open negotiations early is laughable. The general state of the market (which we do belong) has been causing the upward pressure for all of us.
64 airplanes in 2017 was huge though. One airline was talking for a long time about 14 (12?) CRJ200s and then they all didn't show. Other airlines slowed delivery or stopped delivery of new or transferring airplanes. A few airlines spent 2017 giving back airplanes.
The bullet dodged in 2017 was the 30 CRJ700 contract that United didn't renew. Things would have stopped moving instantly if these planes didn't get signed by American. We expanded our American partnership greatly in 2017.