Originally Posted by Sink r8

I think Boog123 is one of ours (Delta).

I think it's best to understand/anticipate that you're not going to bask in the warm glow of solidarity as a result of your SLI/ISL award. You're going to feel like you have to share your house and your spouse with someone else, for ever, and you're not going to be happy about the room distribution. Your opposite number is going to feel exactly the same.

Rather than have unrealistic hopes dashed, I would suggest you view the SLI as a traumatic and unpleasant event, get your hate on for a few days, whine bitterly when you're with "your side", and move on. Then get your mourning on, and say good-bye to your quaint (and grossly embellished) notions of the past at your (no longer) independent airline, and the rosy future you envisioned just for yourself. They're all gone.

I suspect none of you is going to feel a strong bond with your opposite number because of a "fair" SLI: you're going to bond with them despite being forced onto a list together. You're going to do it because you'll come to realize they're just like you, you're going to do it because there is no value in whining, and so you're going to end up doing it out of necessity: the quality of your future depends on your ability to work together.

We're a few years ahead of you, and we're still sort of in purgatory. Guys are flying together with little or no problem, but we're still waiting to punch at our weight class, as a group of more than 11,000.

So... good luck to you all.