Originally Posted by
tsquare
ummmmmmm what??????
As it was explained to me, by some Pan Am 727 Shuttle pilots I was on a layover with, shortly after the merger;
Before the DAL/PA merger, most of the Pan Am senior guys thought Delta would surely buy the South American routes and 747's, and the 727 Shuttle ops. As one PA guy said, "Nobody thought Delta wanted the Atlantic routes, That's what put us into Bankruptcy!"
So some of the more senior guys jumped off the A300 to get onto the 747, hoping they would be picked up, while some of the other guys were jumping onto the 727 NY-BOS-DC shuttle. The pilots taken by DAL were not in seniority order, they were who ever was on what ever equipment DAL bought. Some junior guys on the A300 came over, while more senior guys on the 747 didn't.
Since DAL bought the Trans Atlantic routes, and the A300's, and the Shuttle, only those pilots came over...BUT...there was talk that as soon as some of their ALPA guys found out Delta was going to buy the A300, not the 747, they quickly "Bid" onto to the A300.
You'll have to find a Pan Am guy to get "The Rest of the Story".