I’ll grant you guys that I really like the idea of making RSV so good it goes senior. But if the argument is that no one wants to upgrade below 50% because of how bad the lines are, that’s only a 40% solution. Fixing work rules could, of course, improve the QOL of a junior lineholder, but you can’t totally get rid of the reality that when a very senior FO upgrades into a more senior position, there’s always going to be some loss in QOL. (Someone’s still gotta fly the red-eyes; someone’s gotta do the 30 hour DSM layovers in the winter.) The trade off for that has always been money.

Like everyone else, I’m expecting big improvements to RSV & lineholder work rules in this contract. (DAL has already led the way on these, so it should be an easy layup.) Senior RSV, higher daily credit protection- I want all that stuff. And maybe these improvements alone will be enough to get the upgrade train rolling. Maybe.

But why wait & see is what I’m saying? When we have an angle to play, why wouldn’t we play it? Why wouldn’t we tell the company that a little more $$$ in that seat could be the thing that keeps an incident with a 13 month CA & a 13 week FO from becoming a devastating news story? Why wouldn’t we be pitching the idea that in addition to a great contract, this extra investment in leadership could be the way to ensure you’ve got tenured mentors representing the brand in your captain seats rather than a rushed & runaway upgrade factory? And the reason I hear most often is that it wouldn’t “feel fair”. Which, to me, is a silly reason not to push for a contract improvement.