Bozo....the bottom line is there will always be pilots who will operate outside of what is beneficial to the group's objectives. Fly SOP, nothing more nothing less was the mantra ever since we entered our official labor dispute. Will there be guys who don't? Absolutely. But I think everyone who was on the line felt a palpable difference in the operations the last several months leading up to the AIP. I think the momentum really started with our picket in January and was building every day. More and more guys were doing their job and only their job. Ask the guys who flew in and out of Boston what the ground control supervisor felt about us.


The company felt it. Was it everyone? No. But it was enough to make an impact. We had the greatest amount of leverage we ever had during the 4 years since ALPA came on property. We were about to have another picket event at our HQs during a vote to increase senior officer compensation. Jamie Baker downgraded our stock due primarily to labor unrest. We were headed into summer and the busiest flying period of the year where even the company admitted the majority of our profits for the entire year comes from. Our pilot group was the most galvanized it had ever been, and getting more so every day. For the first time during this entire process, I felt we actually had the upper hand, or at a minimum, significant leverage. And we let it slip through our fingers.


To get back to your question. What do I think would happen if we voted no? I think we get our leverage right back. As much as we had before? Possibly, but for different reasons. The company believes we're going to vote Yes on this TA. I firmly believe this. They need the labor portion of their cost structure to be solidified because they have some major decisions to make which require it. The main one being the culmination of the fleet review. In order to borrow money to solidify a major order like an new fleet type requires major cost equations to be known. With the possibility of that equation not being known would have thrown a wrench in JB's timeline. Also, we'd still have at least a month of the summer flying that should we go back to SOP flying would cripple the operation. It doesn't take everyone to toe the line, just enough to hurt JB's operations. We were there before the AIP, and we'd get back there again quickly.


Is voting no a risk? Of course it is. But I think we have enough leverage that should we vote no, the company would be pressured from several different sides to come to a deal on a better contract than what we have on the table now sooner than what many people believe.