No it's not. Air Wiskey's basic rules (Duty rig: 2:1; Trip rig: 4:1, Minimum 12 days off per month, An extra day off if arrive after 02:00 on the last "day" of a trip) would be a big deal (An "enormous deal" would be getting Delta's work rules or pay on par with Southwest's). These things are right off the Air Wiskey page of APC, and are what all airlines should have as a basis.

Mesa already pays historic trip values, which take into account most of the taxi time. Sure, it doesn't cover a blizzard in one of these cities - true. That being said, block or better is like putting a band-aid on a gaping wound - it's just not enough.

Appearances in this case are not deceiving. 2.1% in 2010 is actually a paycut, b/c it doesn't even keep up with the Consumer Price Index. The CPI has gone up over 18% since 2003, when the last Mesa TA was signed. You'd have to get 19% raises across the board to just keep up with inflation.

True. But signing a TA for 1 huge improvement for 15% of the pilot group is not a good decision for the pilot group as a whole. Besides, Air Wiskey has 12 days off for all pilots, including reserves. And that's after taking concessions.

While Mesa's current contract is not great, you currently would be taking concessions in the following areas:

- No min guarantee for line-holders
- increased training note
- PBS
- required flight check-in
- Freedom certificate lock
- pairing construction language
- no trip trade or pick-up out of domicile
- Reduction in guarantee pay over the year (910 hours versus 909.96)
- Loss of pay override for VOL pick-up
- inability to decline a standing bid award

How do you arrive @ the conclusion that this TA is an improvement when you're taking so many concessions? What you're doing is joining all the other regionals who've taken concessions recently - why join them? Especially when they had more than you, so, even with concessions, they end up with a better contract then Mesa currently has. One of the few things Mesa has not done is take concessions (they didn't take any in 2003 - with the exception of a change to 'move days' language that was slipped by them) - don't take them now either.

You're not, and it shows in the TA that has been negotiated. Continue with the current agreement for another year until things improve rather than taking concessions. If you take concessions now, you'd have to have a reasonable belief that you'd share in the gains when the company was making $. That didn't happen for Mesa's pilots from 2004-2007 when Mesa accumulated over a quarter of a billion dollars, so it's not logical to think things will be different in the future (the only airline that would even consider such thinking would be Southwest).

What about if you don't finish negotiating until 82 months from now. Ask ASA - it happens.

As a reserve FO, this is probably your first airline gig. I highly suggest you spend as much time in the crew rooms, @ MesaHub.com (the forum for Mesa pilots), and talking to your CA's as possible about this new TA and the ramifications of it. One of the problems with Mesa is that most of the guys who care about these issues are often the same proactive individuals who move on to better carriers. That's not going to happen for a bit (there's nowhere to go, really), so those who are at the regionals now are going to have to make a stand themselves, not rely on riding the coattails of those who have gone before you.

In short, I respectfully disagree with your analysis, 'UNDGUY' - if the TA does come to pass, I hope your analysis is more accurate than mine.