Originally Posted by Big E 757

Well said.

First of all, despite the one guy who thinks you guys should be worrying about the rest of the industry first, I think this is a huge leap forward for you all. The LTD alone is huge. Then the pay rates, while not legacy rates, is pretty close by the 3rd and 4th years. Scope protection, the rigs...you don’t have any reason to apologize.

Your obligation is to yourself and your family first, then your pilot group. The rest of us can fend for our families and pilot groups. It’s a great environment right now but we all know a downturn is only as far away as a crazy North Korean dictator’s next missile test.

This AIP is a pretty big leap from where you are and the $56 Million dollar questions are:
1. Can you do better if you vote it down, without giving the NMB a corranary event?
2. Will it be enough to offset the time value of money and/or the risk of losing your medical before a better contract is signed?
3. Will that next AIP/TA be completed before the next downturn.

I hated the TVM arguments when we (DAL) were voting on our TA1 in 2016. I’m not trying to sway anyone’s opinion, just sharing my own. I voted against TA1 and for TA2. We were helped by United’s two year extension in Our second TA because they got substantial raises just for extending 2 years. The American pilots have been given several contract improvements just because their management wants to keep the peace. We’ve all benefitted from the heavy lifting of others.

The one thing that could really help you guys down the road in this contract would be a me too clause, even if it’s just with Frontier and JetBlue. That might help you keep pulling your rates up when they get new contracts. Yours will help them, and it will also help you guys keep pace over the next few years.

Good luck with your decisions, you’ll have a lot to consider over the coming weeks. And congratulations.