CVG,

Actually I don't agree with you. I think our arbitrator did an incredibly difficult merger pretty well despite all the whining you hear. He took two airlines with a huge disparity in pay, aircraft size and dates of hire, and managed it so my career upgrade path was only delayed by two years while nearly 1000 Republic pilots retired off widebody aircraft due to shared growth.

Not all arbitration is horrible. It's just that so many folks simply cannot empathize with another group. That's probably why arbitration was invented.

That said, I do wish our groups could have done this deal outside arbitration. It would have been such a terrific kick start to the process of turning a shotgun wedding into a real family.

Carl