On the NWA side it is DOH logic. On the DAL side it is what could be held on bids before and post merger. Either way, it seems to average about five years, roughly speaking. Your mileage may vary. DYODD. Caveat Emptor.

What makes the difference painful is the lack of advancement. Some of us got spoiled very quickly being senior reserves or bottom lineholders on the 767 and ER, which felt about right after stagnating for a decade. It almost felt like we were getting caught up with where we "should be" for our age and experience. That was short lived and now I'm where I had hoped I would be a decade ago and the career is half way over.

Mergers mostly work because "synergy" is a fancy word for "get rid of half the airline, but try to keep the revenue." By every standard, the Delta / NWA went much better than most.

If we merged with say, Alaska (not that I'm predicting that) they would come to the SLI arbitration well armed, with solid growth and aircraft that slot around 50% or higher on our list. My post was just pointing out that if the the 1996 and up crowd got slotted behind (pick your airline) it would be disaster for the mid to junior FO's.

More importantly, Delta needs to find a way to compete in the open market without constantly employing the buy and shrink method. We need an airline which goes after markets and takes them away from competitors (as we are trying to do in New York).

Some want to demand a big raise and I'm with them, but mostly my goal is to get off reserve. Being on reserve since 1999 (with maybe two years of holding lines in between) is enough. I know I've had it better than many. My side jobs have paid the bills (financially they were the main job) allowing me to bank the airline (hobby?) income. But the state of the economy is making it tough to find opportunities on the side like there used to be. A lot of people are out there looking for work and $100K part time jobs were never that plentiful to begin with.