Just ran across this and would like to add a somewhat different perspective.

I retired several years ago now, but my airline career spanned several airlines, two bankruptcies, and through mergers wound up at Delta. Came from a major whose motto was "The only people we hate worse than out passengers are our employees"; it was an acidic management style, but flight ops was somewhat better treated than other groups. Delta was indeed a breath of fresh air. Yes negotiations are tenuous at best, but you are in good hands with ALPA.

You have to huff and puff and pound your chest to get a fair contract. Its all part of the game but in the long run you will wind up with, most likely, the best contract in the industry. Back in the early 70's a major captain made maybe $45k a year. TWA had an ad in Flying magazine back then advertising for pilots. It mentioned living in great locations and making $1million in your career. Now a half dozen or more line pilots for Delta made that last year!

I have many friends at the other majors and they are all for the most part not happy with their employer.

Getting all upset and ****ed off doesn't really help much. Let your elected reps and the union do their job which they will, and do it well.

We all, well mostly, got into this job because we love flying. Hopefully we will for the rest of our lives. Enjoy the ride it ends quicker than most of us want. Try and not stress out too much. You have the best job in the world in the in your chosen profession.

I probably will get a bunch of flack for butting in here, and I understand that. I wish you all the best in the negotiations.

Himself