And I'd argue that you're wrong. Even without fuel hedges (essentially where we're at now), SWA STILL makes a profit every quarter while paying the highest rates to its employees. How do you explain that?
SWAPA actually works with SWA instead of against the company. That's the main difference between SWAPA and ALPA (or whomever). We work more efficiently, knowing that as the company does well, WE do well in return. Our last few contracts (and extensions) were heavily weighted towards profitability raises, and that's when we leapfrogged all the legacies moving downwards. And ALL of those profitability raises were based on operating profits OUTSIDE of any fuel hedge gain or loss. The fuel hedge gains in those days just padded the company's bottom line. Flying profits alone padded the pilots' bottom line. It really is just that simple, regardless of whatever stupid thing OYS says about Q3, culture, Airtran or Lubbock.
Bubba
