Our overmanning has nothing to do with 3 to 2 seat conversions. Look at the last posting FCIF and count cockpit seats, the totals are: '08 - 819 seats, '09 - 823 seats; '10 - 855 seats. That is straight cockpit seats and does not include that the MD-10/11 and B-777 will be manned at a higher ratio due to RFO requirements.

Our overmanning and bid cancellations, etc can be attributed to rules that allow the optimizer to gain efficiencies, to open time disappearing so quickly, and mostly to retroactivity and the upcoming perceived lack of retirements. They say we are approx 200 pilots fat, and I think that is about how many retirements we could have expected over the next year and change.

They can blame whatever they want on the company, but pushing for 65 and retro at a time when the economy was slowing down and FDA's were showing up was not in the crewforce's (as a whole) best interest. There may never have been a perfect time for that to pass, but I know this wasn't even close to a good time.