Originally Posted by sailingfun

Here is what everyone on the forum once refused to acknowledge however the reality based on posts seems to be setting in for some. Inflation, past pay cuts ect.. are all irrelevant. It only matters what you can achieve in negotiations within the confines of the NMB. I have always wanted the highest possible rates of pay and best QOL. When I read DALPA’s opener I knew we were tossing those two items in the trash. There was zero chance that opener was the road to a new contract. Events have proven that correct time after time in this industry. Many of you were not around when American tried the massive opener and after many years had to bring ALPA into assist getting a mediocre deal done. We tried it with the 777 and ended up losing half the airframes and settling for less than a reasonable opener would have netted us. What we attempted has never worked!!! The NMB places a inordinate amount of emphasis on what they have coined as “The Zone of Reasonableness”. They define that as your standing amongst your peers. Currently our standing amongst are peer is at or near the top of the industry regardless of the metric you use. The only way to beat the Zone is short contracts with compounding gains. Applying that took a 767 CA at Delta from a 156 dollar an hour job with a 9% DC and 52 average block hours a month to 296 a hour, 16% DC and 42 block hours a month in just over 10 years. Had we achieved a modest 8,4,4 contract and a 18% DC that pay number would have been 346 an hour and we would be getting ready to exchange openers on the next contract. We will never make up those losses. Time is the companies friend. They will spend a bit more for labor peace than they would like but if our position is outrageous within the NMB framework they will wrap their arms around their best friend “time” and the NMB will join them and make it a threesome! It’s sad pilots in this industry have to relearn this lesson over and over again.