I can think of a time when it was better than this. The problem I see now is that we have zero leverage and they have zero incentive. Obviously, they'd LOVE us to cave on scope but they're making decent money now and can live with the status quo. They already have the horsepower and money needed to add pieces to the puzzle. We already paid for them. Hence, I see this dragging out for a long time. Can't wait to see the size of the eventual signing "bone-us" that we'll be giddy and willing to accept.

When was that?Our leverage builds every day Delta flies 88 717s in and out of their hubs. It grows with every new A221/3 they accept into their fleet and every quarter they kick our financial a$$. It increased when the DAL CEO & AAL said they don't need RJ scope relief. I could go on and on, but leverage is growing all around us and doesn't require pilots changing their behavior one iota. For the first time I can remember time is on our side. Patience.

The last time when they wanted the long haul relief.

WRT to current leverage, I certainly hope you're right. I'll drink to that.:D

This would be true if we were really wanting to be number one. We’re putting our investment dollars into new uniforms, flight attendant pep rallies, and paint jobs instead of fixing the infrastructure to allow us to provide a better product. This isn’t a competition with Delta, it’s a take no prisoners race to 3rd place with American. I think that we can win.

Mako is right about being in negotiations for the long haul. Both sides want something, but at the end of the day both are fairly comfortable right now and willing to sit and wait rather than give anything up. At least spring is around the corner and he’ll be posting some of his famous fishing photos soon.

Running the act cuts both ways. Kirby knows how to do it. He doesn't have any incentive to accelerate the pace and substance of negotiations.

When I look at that splatter sheet the union sent out I see lots of low hanging fruit that was negotiated and figured out last year. No meaningful progress as of late.

That means company content to kick the can. Company also content to let revenue go to competitors. They want long term labor cost advantage as opposed to short terms profits.

I would like to see ALPA re-frame their arguments and positions, continually engage and inform pilots, achieve more leverage, and negotiate from a position of strength.

I also think this is a mistake: Someone asks about the status of negotiations....Then you get this silly response.."call your reps." No, that's the wrong answer. The reps aren't at the table, and the reps don't need to take 400 phone calls a day. I would like to see a dedicated website stood up by ALPA negotiating committee, staffed by an ALPA communications person who is in charge of putting out a daily update. What was today's agenda, and what was accomplished. I think in today's day and age of technology sharing information in real time is pretty easy.