Heyas RT,
Again, pretty close to the mark. The "pull outs" were woefully inadequate to cover even the short term retirements, let alone those a few years out.
175 fNWA pilots have retired JUST since the SLI was released. That's right, over half the pilots that were supposed to leave in the next FIVE years are already gone. And guess what? The vast majority of them were at 60, exactly as predicted by the NWA side. The PERP will probably add another 100 to that list. To even get within one order of magnitude in error, the arbitrators would have needed to double the number of pull outs.
Like you, I take a double digit hit in my relative seniority. Seats that I would have held for years before retirement at 60 are now out of reach even if I go to 65.
The DAL guys hue and cry about what they lost. In reality, they got EXACTLY what they wanted, and are now QQing with buyer's remorse. They might have been better off with the dynamic plan with 5 year base/aircraft fences.
The DAL MEC tried to quell that remorse by saying "well, there isn't going to be any movement, so all of this is moot...everyone will stay where they are", but that doesn't look like that's going to work out so well.
The night the SLI was released, it was VERY apparent to anyone who could read that there was exactly one avenue to make up what fNWA guys lost, and that was bid up now to the best paying seat you can hold, or at least increase your QoL, because moving up down the road is out of the question. No one should be surprised that fNWA guys will do what they can to mitigate the damage.
I will agree that the NWA guys didn't get stomped quite as hard as the Western or PanAm guys, but maybe that's why some of the DAL guys are pissed...someone actually put up a fight and got a couple of good jabs in.
Nu