Okay, then. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, no?

Yes, I was around. As you know, it's a different time. How is it different? In several ways. Particularly, germane to this issue, though, we've all witnessed in real life how the industry was affected by a black swan event over the last few years. We don't have to imagine or guess.

While not exactly the same (no two situations ever are), the airline industry experienced an arguably even more devastating blow than the 9/11 attacks when the pandemic hit in March 2020. A HUGE difference was the government bailout of the airlines that ensued after the respective events:

When adjusted for inflation, the $15 billion assistance in 2001 is roughly equivalent to about $26 billion in today's dollars. In other words, the financial support airlines received following the COVID-19 outbreak was over three times greater in real terms than what was provided after 9/11.

You seem to be advocating a Maginot Line approach to assisting SWA (the company) in staving off bankruptcy in the event another black swan event occurs by downscaling and diluting our demands in anticipation of the possibility of it happening. You're focused on strategies that may have been effective in the past, 20+ years ago. As the French found out, though, times had changed. More recently, Blockbuster and Blackberry made similar mistakes.

Maybe we should have agreed to that 10% pay cut Carl wanted back in 2020 after the pandemic kicked off. Would have made bankruptcy that much less likely. Job security, am I right?

Our strategies and demands, while keeping in mind the past, should be based on the present economic landscape, labor market, and government policy trends, rather than outdated models.