I don't think that the NWA negotiators were necessarily confident with their proposal, as much as they were simply doing things the way they usually do: turn it over to a third party. I would rather we maintained control of our own destiny by negotiating an agreement. Arbitration leaves too much to chance; leaving anything to the luck of the draw is not in my DNA, and I'll bet that it's not in the DNA of most pilots- NWA pilots included.

As for throwing them under the bus, I don't think we did any such thing. This merger is going to happen- with or without our input. DALPA's deal allows our pilots to capture some contract improvements after the merger. The NWA guys may eventually be working under the same contract, and I think it will be a significant improvement over their present PWA.

Bear in mind that we are trading a valuable part of our scope clause for these contract improvements. The NWA contract obviously doesn't contain this valuable verbiage, yet the NWA pilots stand to eventually gain these contract improvements because of our scope clause.

It's already been mentioned on these boards, but bears repeating. The NWA MEC Chairman said he would not trade contract improvements for seniority; this deal now gives the NWA MEC the choice. They can remain separate, and enjoy advancement due to retirements and 787 deliveries, or they can merge their seniority list with ours, and enjoy better pay, better work rules, more equipment options, and more bases.