OK guys I was at the second "O" meeting and can hopefully shed some light on things.
First of all, I was impressed by O's determination to NOT furlough guys. He not only made the point that flight management had to make a financial argument to the beancounters that it was NOT the financially right thing to do (which he said they had done at this point) but he also argued the culture aspect. We don't furlough at FedEx, and if we put guys on the street our culture as a pilot group has been irrevocably changed (my word, not his). He does not want this to happen, and I for one believe him.
As to the BLG -
Right now the buyups to BLG are costing the company just over $1 million/month. They are getting nothing from this other than (supposed) goodwill from the pilots.
The company and ALPA are in talks to minimize the pain from the slow economy. Reduced BLGs will reduce displacements in any future excess bid, and both parties are assuming (correctly in my book) that people are willing to accept a slight reduction in BLG before being bumped to a lower seat.
As to the reduced BLG - the contract does NOT require the company to drop immediately to 48/60 hour months. If they want to go below 68/85 then they must let ALPA know. What I got from the meeting was this:
The company may need to drop below the 68/85 threshold soon (but probably not until after peak). When they do they will come up with an LOA with ALPA that will allow building the BLG to each seat. For example the MEM MD-11 CA seat might have a 66.5 hr BLG while the MEM MD-11 FO seat has a 66 hour BLG. Each seat will be determined by the flying available and bodies to fly it.
The consensus was (and anyone else who was there can feel free to correct me) that IF BLGs need to drop below 68/85 that they would settle around the mid-60 level for 4-week bid months. O flat-out stated that there was no way we could run the airline with a 48-hour BLG (mostly due to the -11).
I'd also like to echo what was said earlier - O said that he sees this as a 12- to 18-month problem that we have to see our way through. In one year with the 777 bid in place and the economy the same as it is we will need every pilot on the seniority list.
The fact that management sees this as a short-term problem (for now) also explains why they are not entertaining early retirement packages.
That was my take from the Wed night meeting with O, for what it's worth.