You make a good point. United, Delta, or American could get a revolutionary contract. What're the odds that little Alaska, who is decades behind, comes up with the best deal by going first? Maybe sitting on our hands and letting the heavyweights make the first move will yield better results.

There's a pretty strong alternate argument too. We at Alaska have so much ground to make up, maybe it's best to lock in these massive gains before we lose them? Also, what can the big airlines get that we would miss out on by Alaska going first? These are extraordinary times for pilot negotiations, but after the dust settles, what can we really change? In the end, no matter the airline, most pilots will be working 70 to 90 hours per month and have 14 to 17 days off. We can negotiate goodies like rigs, override pay, better vacation day credit, etc, and we can also wrestle control of scheduling and scope, but outside of those things, what else do we want? What are we going to miss out on? Ii say this with sincerity, is there something that I'm missing?

For me to vote yes, this contract is going to have to have everything that we asked for: scope, scheduling controls, schedule flexibility, work rules, better vacation availability, better vacation credit, faster sick time accrual, sick time changed to personal time, holiday overridie, redeye override, international override, better training pay, better retirement, and the leading narrow body payrates in the country with iron clad snap up. We must forever be the top paid 737 drivers in the country or tied with the best paid 737 drivers. If we get all of that? Why wait to vote it in? Should I freak out that United could get. 0.2% better international override or delta get $0.50 more an hour per diem?