I think Ace Rimmer has made the best point on this thread. Pilot's Pay is almost never the reason that the company is sinking... It's bad management. Airline pilot unions do not pick random numbers on how much they should make. They take a piece of the pie and through negotiations tell management how they would like it divided. United's problems are NOT pilot pay. UAL is showing an operating profit even with these high pay rates. The problem is that management has mismanaged finances so bad that even if the pilots worked for free, it would not get them out of debt at this point.
BBB