It is part of their playbook. In 2011 they started talking about a 10% increase a year before the contract was to expire. They wanted to make everyone think that being competitive was important to them and that the contract would be settled quickly and that everyone should stay because they would be getting a big raise soon.

Instead, the contract ended in 2012 and after 4 years we got a 7% increase. That was 1.75% raise for each year of negotiating.

It is much cheaper to talk about a pay increase then to pay a pay increase.

But, of course its a new game now with few pilots out there. Unfortunately, Hulas plays chess while the pilots play checkers.