Originally Posted by hummingbear

I mean by that logic, we should have just signed TUMI 1 & locked in our “industry leading” 9% before we found ourselves in the current predicament of losing millions per day. Yes, there’s a monetary value of time, and there comes a point where continued delays are not worth potentially minor gains to the final product. To the extent we’re still talking about major contractual issues & shorter timelines, I don’t think we’re at that tipping point yet.

Secondly, I use Scott, Kirby, SK, & any other shorthand moniker interchangeably without a lot of consideration about the “messaging”; as I did with *gasp* Oscar, Jeff, etc. I guess somehow “Scott” is an act of obeisance where “Kirby” displays my fierce independence? (Ooh, that’ll show him!) Come on, it’s an internet forum- I’m not having the guy over for Sunday dinner. But to your point about the koolaid classes, I’d say your completely out-of-your-hat number of $5M-$7M per day is being partially offset by what’s being lost on messaging. What most of us who have been in this industry a while already know is that this job is really easy if you just stop caring- about the company, the operation; the customers. Once people figure that out, it becomes very hard to convince them that it’s worth it to care again. And once enough people figure it out, you’ve lost control of your product.

Every day this drags on, we mint another UAL pilot who isn’t buying into the corporate cheerleading campaign. (If AA beats us to the punch, that will be another massive recruitment event to the ranks of the disaffected, IMO.) Most of these will not be won back simply by finally completing a contract- they will require something more to move them from their newfound stasis.

Whether *ahem* Kirby understands it or not, whatever he’s saving on delayed negotiations isn’t as simple as just a pure net gain. As I’ve said it before, pay up now & get something for it, or pay the same amount later & get nothing.