Jim,
First I want to say that I admire your knowledge in aviation and the airline industry. I could never compete with your understanding of RASMs, CASMs, and such. You have certainly taken an active role in educating yourself with everything involved in running an airline.
With that being said, I am a student of human nature and have knowledge in negotiating tactics whether it involves money or otherwise. When this whole thing began and we started to see the "concessions" management wants I said to myself, "HMMMM, if they really wanted to reach agreements, would they really be starting with such steep demands?" Not to mention that the deadline was unforseeable.
Let me use an analogy. If you want to but a used vehicle, you start at a lower figure than the asking price. However, you don't start so low that the sales person laughs you out of the office. You banter back and forth and present your knowledge of the vehicle in such a way that eventually the sales person/ manager agrees to your offer. In the long run you save money and the dealership still makes money. You don't wait two weeks to negogiate and you certainly do not refuse to return the calls from the dealership because someone else may just buy the vehicle from beneath you.
I truly don't think this management team wants to avoid BK. Dr Boner made his intentions clear in several of the articles that were printed. They are undercutting by too much, taking too much time for the deadline to be met, and are not willing to meet any labor group on common ground.
My prediction still stands. They want BK and never intended to avoid it. Even if concessions were passed Bk would be in the not so distant future. :angry:
