Originally Posted by Excargodog

Back when the airline stocks were tanking because of COVID, management incorporated a “poison pill” provision into their stockholders rights. NK didn’t HAVE to accept this deal, they did it because they wanted to. As for the little fish eating the bigger fish, that well may have been cosmetic to help get it past the antitrust guys. It’s a MERGER far more than a buy-out. But both sides clearly wanted this deal and as alike as the two airlines are, it will likely be a success business wise. But BECAUSE both managements want it to go through, there is less likely to be the usual farting around to put pressure on the pilots than for the average CBA.

The important thing is for both ALPA unions to get together immediately and define goals and expectations for the JCBA, then get competent negotiators to price out what we’ll accept. Because both managements WANT this to happen, and the union(s) have never been in a more advantageous position to make gains. But one way or another, barring fed disapproval, this is gonna happen eventually. The longer it takes, the longer before management realizes the economies of scale and competitive advantages this merger will give them. We need to get the most possible out their impatience to get this done…sort of like managements traditionally do with pilots.

Originally Posted by CincoDeMayo

Yup, and those pilots are with ALPA lawyers throughout the entire process. Deals are not made at the table, papers are passed at the table and counters are made away from the table with our ALPA lawyers working with our pilot representatives. The idea the company is sending lawyers in who outsmart the gullible pilots at the negotiating table is a tired one. In the end, negotiations are to present an AIP, your reps make it a TA, and the pilots ratify it. Don’t like the end result? Take it up with the 70% of pilots who voted it in or the 6 reps that made it eligible to vote on.

Originally Posted by CincoDeMayo

Yup, and those pilots are with ALPA lawyers throughout the entire process. Deals are not made at the table, papers are passed at the table and counters are made away from the table with our ALPA lawyers working with our pilot representatives. The idea the company is sending lawyers in who outsmart the gullible pilots at the negotiating table is a tired one. In the end, negotiations are to present an AIP, your reps make it a TA, and the pilots ratify it. Don’t like the end result? Take it up with the 70% of pilots who voted it in or the 6 reps that made it eligible to vote on.

Originally Posted by sioux8ships

Yes, alpa lawyers with our NC. My comment was more directed to the company lawyers being more shrewd than our guys. We made big gains last contract, agreed. But Bendo and co seemed to be one step ahead of our NC/ lawyers every step of the way.

I remember being at a PUB event in FLL. Bendo walks in, uses the restroom and makes a pass through the room and leaves. Rest of the conversations that evening focused around that one single event. Planned, I’m sure. He got the result he was looking for.

Originally Posted by CincoDeMayo

I bet it really distracted the pilots from the free beer and pizza. I heard one pilot was so shaken by seeing Bendo, he forgot how many growlers of beer be was getting to go on the union tab. Poor guy haha

Originally Posted by Lakeaffect

Absolutely. Our current contract has its short-comings and is lacking the industry. We have some ground to cover, but we have a lot less ground to cover than our last negotiating cycle and we have a ton more leverage, and I think this merger just gave us even more leverage.

Originally Posted by Trylabyte

Why do you think you have more leverage ? The company was turning a profit last time. Do you think now the immediate response won't be "we haven't made money in 2 years so how do you expect a raise" oddly they have a point

Originally Posted by Trylabyte

Why do you think you have more leverage ? The company was turning a profit last time. Do you think now the immediate response won't be "we haven't made money in 2 years so how do you expect a raise" oddly they have a point

Originally Posted by Lakeaffect

The negative profit is a direct result of the pandemic and not necessarily a reflection of a business problem. We are expecting to be profitable again soon, probably this quarter as will frontier. So they don’t have a case there. And the bigger reason is that it would be business suicide if they tried to push a pay-cut on to us. They wouldn’t be able to grow or even maintain. Both sides wanted this merger deal, that’s why it went through. Sprontier can’t take full advantage of the merger until a JCBA is agreed upon. It’s in managements interest to give us a raise not only to keep the flow of pilots coming, but also to get their precious merger accomplished. We have more leverage than any of us has EVER had in any of our careers. Its not really even debatable.

Everybody is concerned about the pilot shortage, if that weren’t the case, then yes I could see maybe no pay raise.

Originally Posted by Tranquility

FWIW, consensus EPS estimates for Q1 2022 are -$1.04/share. Not profitable. I can’t speak for ULCC as I don’t follow their stock.