I was wondering the same thing and I'm sure someones alternative will be "raise ticket prices!" But if prices go up demand goes down and we don't need as many people. If prices don't go up then we end up costing too much and we either get cut again or farmed out. Seems like it eventually gets us back to square uno.

But that doesn't take into account the effect on the regionals, especially those that thrive on max duty day flying. If their costs increase substantially then it could make them so inefficient that flying is shifted back to mainline and thus a win for mainline pilots and RJ pilots with a mainline goal. Then again...