Yes. The argument here is "protecting IAH pilots". Are we that fragmented as a group? Was there a "north vs south" battle for flying pre-merger at CAL that created this type of thinking?

What's worth is it harms the base. This is why. 100% of all the IAH pilots can stay in IAH on the surplus. No one can be forced out. Let's say a 737 Captain decides to go to EWR and stay a 737 Captain, he's choosing to leave the base. He's now a EWR based pilot. So 2 years down the road there is an IAH 737 Captain bid and a IAH based 756 FO who is senior decides to bid it, but it is being "held" for a guy who has been based in EWR for 2 years. How does that benefit the IAH based pilot? What does his seniority count for? Nothing, its been abrogated by politics.

This isn't going to happen period. Ben is 30 from the bottom and likely to be bumped, which is unfortunate. But where was this proposal when there were 40 737 pilots displaced from IAH in January? Now that Ben is affected he wants protection.

Fragmenting the pilot group by domicile and setting up competing political interests is not in the best interest of the entire pilot group.