Originally Posted by gloopy

Maybe, but there is the untested and nebulous "federal merger law" although that could be end rounded because as we all know, "it depends on what the definition of a merger is". Plus they have individual contracts with aparently "strong" language in it, but again its untested and would be very interesting to watch an attempt to enforce.

That said, buying B6 in whole would be insane and potentially disasterous for our pilot group because if there was some way for them to get anywhere close to a relative/ratio integration, we would be absolutely slaughtered, even with widebody fences, based on longevity actuarials. Halfway up the list is around 5 years. Think about that. Then think about the immedtate fallout:

They get a ratio (their 10 year pilots zippered in with our 25-30+ year pilots, their 4 year pilots blended in the list with our 15 year pilots) and then we proceed to divest massive portions of what we just "bought" to appease the regulators. So B6 pilots get a longevity windfall and then the list is shrunk significantly as slots and gates are divested like crazy (likely in a court ordered SWA charity case but maybe with some NK and VX and I'd bet even AA or USAir pre-AA merger thrown in for good measure).

So we run the risk of getting absolutely hammered in the biggest seniority windfall in history (not in our favor) and then we divest much of the new transaction and that excess comes off the new combined list with PM-D pilots far, far below their PM-JB counterparts at all seniority tiers.

If we got B6 we would have to divest a lot anyway. Divesting up front and making it a fragmentation just beyond the thesholds of McCaskill-Bond and the non union contract would be the only way to guarantee a seamless acquisition of the parts we really wanted without slaughtering the DL list if it ever got to arbitration.