Originally Posted by
Bucking Bar
I dunno. At the bottom the NWA DC9 pilots were integrated even with DAL 767 pilots. There are still quite a number of f-DAL pilots out of position for what their post merger seniority would hold in a stovepipe bid. The f-NWA pilots often bid to remain more senior in category. If pushed to bid something else the relatively senior pilots could displace up a category or three, starting some pretty radical displacement pin action. The unknown variable is the decision Delta will make on backfill positions.
Recall two bids ago it looked like a complete blood bath for Atlanta with a number of 76-5 and 767 positions going away, but, a reprieve was found by pooling extra pilots on the MD88 and staffing the 737 a little higher than projected.
These displacements are a real wild card.
I spent a lot of time looking at this at the time of the merger, and it looked like the fNWA pilots actually bid for the biggest piece of equipment they could hold. It was more blurry for the senior WB F/O's, some of whom went for QOL, but everyone else looked a lot more "stovepiped" than DAL. If you think about it, you're proving it when you say more DAL pilots were above their stovepipe level.
With that said, I think you're correct: this could go all kinds of directions, and the fact remains that the natural progression is towards categories that were not "stovepiped". The bases nearest large population centers of the country, i.e. ATL/LA/SEA/NYC are getting more senior, and the midwest is getting more junior.