I would describe that as “virtually zero cost” given the way our negotiations are reported to be going. Note: SWAPA and the company could still meet outside of mediated sessions if they wanted to.

As a reference point, Delta entered negotiations in the spring of 2019 (April, I believe) and then entered mediation in Jan 2020. That’s about seven or eight months after beginning negotiations. That’s reasonable.

They are now a little over 2.5 years into mediation. Typically, that would be roughly when the possibility of a release would begin to become realistic. It’s at that point that the leverage offered by the RLA begins to become a factor in the company’s calculus. Though, in this case, the pandemic beginning in Mar 2020 might throw the typical time table off.

Regardless, their clock is still ticking. They planted the seed quite a while ago. Their leverage is building. Their pickets yesterday, for example, will be that much more threatening to DL management since they know what can possibly happen in the not terribly distant future if the pilot group isn’t happy.

Right now, in contrast, since the threat of legal self help isn’t credible at SWA and won’t be for at least the next two to three years, SWA management rightly isn’t incorporating that into their bargaining stance. We don’t present as much of a threat to SWA management as DL pilots do to DL management.