Look, count me as one who does not begrudge the DL pilots anything (within limits). They do have a knack for poor timing though. First, after being completely frozen in terms of salary from 1995-2001, allowing the company to become very profitable, and after pilots at UA and AA staged slowdowns, sick-ins etc, the DL pilots were awarded an industry high contract in Spring 2001, only to have the post 9/11 industry collapse... then, the pilots had to give in to get DL to survive bankruptcy.... I remember getting off a plane in Madrid in April 2006 (?) and telling the pilot to be sure to make it back next week to take us home, as a strike date loomed soon. He winked and told me not to worry.

The airline industry is really not a good way to make money... I always thought that the airlines, if they were clever, would ask for a cut of all the airport concessions, the terminal rentals, the parking etc. For without the airlines flying their historically money losing routes, those airport parking spaces would have no cars parked in them for $25 a day!