Exactly. The charade of pilots who are very junior getting Captain seats of out seniority because the work rules and flying is so horrible on reserve or being junior doesn't mean every CAL pilot who passed up a Captain bid should get a seniority advantage.

UAL brings far more Captain positions as well as far more widebody flying. This means that there will be more United pilots by far that occupy the top half of the seniority list and more CAL pilots in the bottom half.

Its not the fault of United pilots that pilots at CAL chose to pass up Captain, while at United, more pilots didn't pass up the position. Its also a result of only have a couple pilot bases, and larger bases are more likely to have position bidding variability. Smaller bases are more likely to have position bidding efficiency. UAL having multiple bases around the US means less commuters and more pilots willing to be on reserve. Plus the much better reserve rules make it easier to upgrade as soon as possible instead of what happened at CAL.

I think the arbitrator is going to see right through that one.

It would be ironic if the lousy work rules at CAL (which is what caused lineholding FOs to not bid Captain) ended up benefitting them.

It would also be ironic if CAL pilots having super bases in undesirable cities ended up benefitting them, as they lateral and bid out to decent places to live.

Stick to the merger policy....

Longevity (when was the pilot hired)
Status and Category (how many of each type of aircraft were brought)
Career Expectations (what equipment pilots would end up on)

The rest is folly and speculation.