Originally Posted by Mooner

I am thankful for folks like the above to show up and reveal their ignorance. It further supports my thesis that pilots are truly the problem. Money is money. Time adjusts value. 99.9% of the time, value is diminished by time due to inflation, which is a structural requirement for a credit based system of money. Getting all your money upfront on day 1 would be far superior value-wise than gradually over the duration of the contract.

As unpractical as it may to get 100% of compensation increases upfront in the form of a signing bonus, time value-wise a portion has merit. Say we get 10% of our pay increase from my example, a little more than a third of total (assuming 28% total), that third would be protected from inflation for the duration of the contract. People like me would either spend immediately to capture the present and higher value relative to future dollars, or use it to purchase a hedge.

In a better world where we negotiate as I have laid out, there would be no need for signing bonuses. However, history shows that beyond a year or two, full retro becomes unlikely. Such things as signing bonuses come into play. In my estimation, that shipped sailed on us quite some time ago. Much depends on United and what happens there. The most likely scenario is we add some marginal increases to their rates and make up the difference with value elsewhere in the contract and a signing bonus.

Contrary to belief here, there is a limit that responsible corporate governance demands. It is why full retro (defined as a pay rate effective on the amendable date and each anniversary up to the effective date of the new contract) is rare in instances we find ourselves in.

I have no need to burn asses here. I just believe it might be beneficial some day to understand that the way we do these contracts is the worst possible way and yields the worst outcomes. I could care less about how this contract resolves. That shipped sailed for me. I will retire at 61. And yes, as much as I was tempted at the height of the virus insanity to move my timeline up, I do enjoy getting out and about.