Blind optimism. Actually the things that come to mind are:
1. We are still a very young airline. I have no idea what SWA's payrates were six years in but I doubt they were on top like they are now.
2. There have been a lot of measures taken in 2006 to make the numbers better. These include better route management, ticket pricing, single-engine taxi becoming normal ops, and of course pulling out six seat on the 320s so we only need 3 FAs (I still have mixed feelings on that one).
3. I still hold out a glimmer of hope that if management sees they are about to get a pilot union on the property (not just the b!tching that goes on here and on bluepilots) they may be realize that giving a respectable raise to both seats in both aircraft is a better way to go. I can already hear you guys laughing but everybody's gotta have a dream.

Hypothetical question: Would all the union folks out there still hate us as much if our payrates were the same as yours and we didn't have a union? Just curious. Save the "it doesn't matter cause it will never happen" line.