'BEARDY' ; Loved it. Just choked on my first shot of caffeine ! Maybe I meant ' per suede' ! 'FANTOM', I was referring to the dreadful 1960's & early 70's. I enjoyed employment with my sponsoring airline & hated the thought of "withdrawing" my labour in support of some herly bird in dispute with Bristows ! I hated the handling of the BEA/BOAC/BARD merger where some Bapla reps did very well & I wound up bottom of BEA ! Of course things got better where silly Managements decided to negotiate only with BALPA PLC'c . I am aware of the tremendous efforts of the new breed of BALPA Rep & no intended offense exists. I still prefer non Union Companies & enjoyed the greater part of my career with them. Apologies for going off thread a bit & I still feel for all in TCX .