Perhaps my assumptions are naïve but I start with the assumption that when I say “Delta TA” the implication is our current contract plus Delta’s improvements with zero “gives”. My second assumption is this is not a total rewrite of our current contract rather adding of QOL and pay changes so “ getting it right” this time should be straight forward and take weeks not months.

I am a lucky man and hopefully I will retire early within a couple years and have my financial ducks all in a row so this contract cycle will have little to no impact on my future but what I am concerned about and what drives my question is what I perceive (perhaps incorrectly) as a common sentiment at UAL that there is much to be gained above the gains in the Delta TA.

To be clear it is my understanding that the DeltaTA includes improvements across the board that are fairly simple to implement such as pay per vacation day, pay per training day, pay for SCs, pay for holidays, pay for all reassignments, limits on reassignment length, limits on number of SCs, etc. Further I fear pilots in favor of taking time to “get it right” may not have put a number on the cost of waiting.

In round numbers each month that passes without a contract is costing individual pilots $3k or more. That’s including forgone pay raises and interest on retro. So any “gains” must be worth the cost. 6 months extra $20k for whatever improvements we get. 9 months $30k. Worst case . . . The economy falls into recession and the company chooses to pull all offers.

So again assuming we’re talking about an offer with zero gives and most or all of Delta’s gets what does “getting it right” mean and more importantly how much are pilots willing to pay to “get it right”?