1) Living within your means is not altruism, but prudence and self-preservation.

2) There is a chronological problem if one argues that the 54% paycuts are responsible for the need to fly more today. The towers came down while Delta had not yet seen the bulk of the C2K raises.

Someone that was living within their means under POS 96 would presumably not have increased their expenses between 2001 and today. Not if they get the paper, have the internet, or watch television. So we got the warning (9/11) well before the train wreck (LOA 46 and 51). All we had to do, was not get on.

Our current rates probably are pretty close to our POS 96 rates. I returned from furlough at exactly the same rate (within pennies), aswhen I left. I lost the 18% under LOA 51, and made up most of that since, and then some, since I changed aircraft. It is true that the rates never kept up with inflation, but then again, most of us are on better paying airplanes today than under POS 96.

So while the sad news is that we are nowhere near where we belong, the inescapable fact is that anyone who reads the paper has had about nine years to recognize that the environment was not favorable to us, and adapt. Not adapt by making drastic cuts in their lifestyle: adapt by controlling new costs. My experience is that the guys that are truly hurting now are guys that jumped in on the housing bubble, and grossly overspent, between LOA 46 and 51. I find it extremely difficult to commiserate. Luckily, they are a minority.