If the economy tanks, or there is some other serious catastrophe, we should still insist on negotiating a contract with significant Pay, QOL, and Scope improvements.

The only difference could(?) be that if the situation is truly serious, and obvious to all sides, we perhaps agree to set aside only those parts that would significantly increase the airline's financial burden immediately. Later on, the rest of the agreement would then automatically kick in, based on some predetermined metric, once there's an upswing in the economic cycle.

That way, we wouldn't be left stuck with a concessionary contract, and later come to regret it as the airlines once again start making super profits and are unwilling to share in the windfall.

I think this time around, we have to take a different approach to contract negotiations during a downturn, and have the conviction to stick with it if we find ourselves in that scenario. History tells us that the economy will ALWAYS come back, despite what would be management's predictable doom and gloom pronouncements.