If the legacies become consistantly profitable, and the wages and benefits go up in contract talks, people will leave LCCs for the Legacies again. The retirement numbers alone will attract people away. Southwest and now Airtran have a younger pilot group with a lot fewer retirements scheduled in the next 10 years. Going to the bottom of that list would mean stagnation for years, and that means QOL issues. The pay would be great, but poor QOL means something too. There are 4 or 5 years in a row that Delta retires over 500 or 600 pilots each year. Do you know how much movement that equals? Every widebody Captain that leaves means 20 or so pilots move up to higher paying equipment. And, that means more stability too with new hiring from the bottom up.