Originally Posted by Oletimer

After the merger the decision was made NOT to lead, but to follow. Management figured it would be TOO HARD to lead the industry, so they decided to try and place 2nd or 3rd. Just like a horse race, win, place, or show. You still win. Because of this stragegy you see management lag in other areas as well. We will never win or lead. just lag or follow.

Collective bargaining is the same strategy. Management does not want to set the price of a pilot. Once they know what the price is they will adapt.

We can play leap frog effectively if we have the right mindset. You can't fight city hall. So the MEC would be wise to recognize the strategy and simply play leap frog better and better. Delta plus. AA plus, SWA plus. Whatever.

They have SWA guppy captains making 450K plus a year. RIGHT NOW. That is the truth. I bet they got guys making more. I just know a guy and looked at his W-2. Seems like he didn't even work that hard. SWA is flying guppies and they are a LCC and they are smashing it! I'll layover in Elpaso for the rest of my career if I can make that coin.

BUT...WE WILL NEVER lead the pack. Our best course of action is to "draft" like a race car driver behind the leaders and hope to make incremental gains. Delta plus, etc., is a very viable and cost effective strategy. It gives us more leverage and is way more effective than doing all the heavy lifting ourselves.