My only comment on this topic regards the term "career expectations."

The term originated at the ALPA BoD meeting in the mid-90s. It came about during the abortive attempt by United to merge with USAir. It was inserted in the ALPA Merger/Fragmentation Policy as a replacement for "Date of Hire."

Why? It was to protect United widebody Captain seats from senior USAir pilots. United, being the 900 lb. gorilla at the time, pushed the change through.

"Career Expectations" has nothing, repeat NOTHING to do with seniority position when two narrowbody airlines merge their seniority lists. It is ONLY there to exclude pilots who were not hired at airlines flying widebody equipment from upgrading on widebodies before that airline's pilots had their opportunity. That's where fences came from.

Including "No Bump, No Flush" language in the SLI agreement guarantees that no current AS or VX Captain would lose their seat until that individual voluntarily bids out of it. That seat would then be filled by the next senior bidder on the integrated seniority list however that may be determined.

One final thought...BOTH pilot groups should express to their respective MECs how they want a merged seniority list to look. Both MECs need to hire the best lawyer they can afford to participate in the negotiation. Then let your merger committees do their thing.

Debating the issue on this board is wasted bandwidth. This week in Germany, I witnessed a group of Atlas pilots debating AT LENGTH how the Southern pilots should be integrated into their list. A complete waste of time and the discussion got quite heated at some points.

While quite entertaining from a fly on the wall perspective, I couldn't help but wonder if it might have CRM ramifications down the road. Don't let yourself get wrapped up in meaningless worry/speculation. What will be will be and unless you're on the Merger Committee or the MEC there's very little you as an individual can do about it anyway.