There was a duty of fair representation case (DFR) brought by the West pilots. They won the case and USAPA has a permanent injunction prohibiting them from negotiating anything other than the Nicolau arbitration award list. USAPA has appealed to the Ninth Circuit to overturn the case. Their only hope is that case was brought too soon, as USAPA had merely proposed the date of hire list and the negotiations had not concluded.

The East pilots are hoping that some vague language in their second bankruptcy agreement allows them to snap back to what would be near industry leading rates. The language seems to clearly favor LCC management, but USAPA is taking a shot. That would give tremendous raises to the East pilots only.

The company is waiting until the legal cases are solved until they will seriously negotiate with USAPA. At some point the legal cases will be solved and then negotiations will continue. If they can come to an agreement, there will be a vote on a joint contract and if it passes they will be one group. Despite some people's assurances, no one knows what will pass and what won't.

The real wild card is the financial condition of LCC, which is extremely shaky. They have several debt covenants, one of which they have breached but are being allowed to slide for now. If they get called in, then the bleeding will turn into a gusher. Management just wants to sell out the airline to someone else, but they have no real hopes now for a buyer. Management is hoping that the improving economy will give them some breathing room until they can sell out.