I'm afraid most AA pilots will disagree and it would be wise to assume that whatever position APA takes, it won't be for a pure Nic inclusion either. Again, I see you're arguing that you are really one pilot group and one airline and I get that argument and had that come to fruition, we wouldn't be disagreeing about anything, but the fact is your operations and lists are indeed separate and absent the merger, there was no light at the end of the tunnel of that changing.

Sure, our present relative seniority wont be changed, but the Nic would give fast access to pre-merger AA Group III and even Group IV flying by pilots who previous pre-merger career expectations maxed out flying narrowbody equipment for $80-$130/hour (or thereabouts) out of one domicile. Considering the various placement of West pilots on the Nic list, I can see a lot of windfall opportunity at the expense of pre-merger AA pilots using the pre-merger Nic and absent fences, I have difficulty seeing that outcome. This SLI consideration will also consider compensation as a factor, both at the time of merger (U pilots based on their pre-merger contracts) and future (also based on those contracts). So, one of the many questions for the arbitrators is, is a pre-merger $85/hour job (narrowbody F/O) in PHX worth as much or even more then a $135/hour job (767 F/O) in MIA ?

Should the Nic be allowed to potentially place that $85/hour (pre-merger) West PHX pilot ahead of that $135/hour (pre-merger) AA MIA pilot without some form of mitigator to prevent what would be a windfall ?

You can make even more of an argument in the captain's compensation discrepancy dept regarding the same comparison and asking the same question. Again, and it's just my opinion, pre-merger career expectation based on the actual state of pilots at their pre-merger carriers is the most significant factor in avoiding windfalls.