Its going to happen.

The CAL proposal did that. They proposed putting furloughed CAL pilots ahead of active UAL pilots. So you can't argue that active pilots deserve to be ahead of furloughed ones, and then propose the opposite.

Also, if you read the CAL talking points of "The merger didn't happen until 2013 so they were all active" then you have to count the returning UAL furloughs to the CAL side as active CAL pilots. They are, after all, on the CAL list. The CAL proposal STAPLED them behind the UAL furloughed pilots. (i.e. they were stapled below themselves)

So either way you look at the the CAL proposal RECOGNIZES and CONFIRMS that it is OK to put furloughed pilots ahead of active ones.

Also the most recent merger using the new policy "Pinnacle/Mesaba/Colgan" did exactly that. The furloughed pilots got their DOH within their status and category of RJ FO, even though there were furloughed.

Even with the furloughed pilots being placed with active pilots, nobody's relative percentage changes more than 5%.

If you staple those 1,400 pilots, then the 100% CAL pilot get a windfall of having 1,400 UAL pilots, some with 7 or more years of longevity, placed below him.

Also, the United side has over 2,000 retirements in the next 5 years. In about 10 years the retirements start to run around 400 per year just on the UAL side.

On the CAL side there are only THREE YEARS of the next 20 years, where retirements are over 200. They are 205,208, and 210.

UAL has just one year where over 500 UAL pilots retire.

So the UAL retirements and those jobs MORE THAN MAKE UP FOR furloughed pilots being placed with active ones. The CAL pilots benefit FAR MORE from UAL retirements than vice versa.

So I understand your angst, but its why they changed the policy. To protect pilots who have put in their time, and because of a timing of a furlough, still get credit for their longevity.