This. There are a thousand question marks, and they all give us pause at best. The legacies have established track records of paying the most, stable bases, and top shelf work rules. Their next round of contract negotiations will almost certainly keep them at the top by some margin. Their upgrades are as fast or faster than Spirit's (Delta...), retirements will keep the seniority train chugging, and widebody options for those who want them. They will be affected least by staffing woes.

Meanwhile, we're already seeing coverage awards from PBS, reserve shortages, etc. Summer will be a bloodbath, and spring break will be a fun preview of that. Our IT fails us time and time again. Base closures and co-base headaches are probably in the cards with this merger, and our future includes babysitting 1500 hour wonders in the right seat of an Airbus who have no concept for contract negotiations. All that while we wait patiently several years to see if a JCBA might be on par with legacies.

The problem is the legacies are hiring now. Right now. The train is leaving the station. This is the most time sensitive choice many of us will see in our careers. The damage is being done in real time. Industry standard pay rates/contract bullet points needed to happen yesterday. Not today, not tomorrow, and certainly not in several years when this merger gets hammered out.