OPINION..The people who manage the airline do so based on data and until the data show that pilots need to (and will) eat, the situation will remain unchanged. Unless we elect to spend negotiating capital on it, which would be un-necessary if more of us elected to employ the "ERDUDE" technique, which is actually safer. /OPINION[/QUOTE]

Amazing. So they need data to understand that human beings (yes, pilots qualify until robots are at the controls) need to eat, sleep at regular intervals, and take care of various other biological needs? If that's true, these people are either dumber than I thought or completely heartless.

I can't believe we even have to debate this and other similar topics. We shouldn't have to negotiate (via ACARS or otherwise) in order to eat. Un-effing believable.

While it's true that we each have the ability to act in our own best interest and disrupt the operation, the company knows that we were all hired with an innate sense of mission accomplishment. But the fact that one may have to "talk to somebody" is a deterrent - who among us thinks it's a positive thing to be required to talk to a CPO or duty pilot? Save your arguments about being a big boy or girl. We're all capable of that but who needs the extra hassle?