Great Post with alot of good points and reasoning!, One question?
You said the "DC-8's were old, ugly and inefficient, just like the 75 or so PFE's" Did you mean to imply they are old ugly and inefficient too!! :>
On a side note the last furlough scare was narrowly averted due to many of our Reservists being called up for the Iraq War...alot of the same points you make applied then as well, the aspect you missed is that I was told by a Mgr that UPS corporate made alot of sacrifices/lay-offs etc during that period and wanted the "air side" to make a "token furlough" to show how all of the UPS divisions were making cost cutting moves, spreading the pain...He said it was a pure political move to appease the box-heads, His words
Hope your right, sounds like a tough argument to counter!
See You,
Vito