I gotcha... honestly man, I at first wanted the F9 deal, mostly because the combined order book, but after taking the time and studying alot and talking to people at F9/NK/B6 I came to the conclusion that B6 is a better move for us. My 1st choice obviously would have been stand alone and maybe get new blood in management, get a new CBA and move forward ourselves that way, but that wasnt really going to happen. But, I believe we will be stronger together with B6 in getting a solid contract(really hoping B6 guys are open to wanting our QOL, unlimited drops). There will be 100 A220's coming while they get rid of the 190's. Thats a net gain right there of 40 planes, they have more options with those. That doesnt even include the 320/321. lets not forget our order book too. More importantly, this will be a long process, longer than what most people think. The DOJ approval will be a long one, but it will eventually get approved. I think when the dust settles and lists are merged and run bids etc we are probably looking at 3yrs. But the deciding factor for me was Franke, it is not good working under him. I get your point with the shareholders having their 48 or 49% but honestly, as someone who spent time working for 2 Wall St firms before I came back to flying who currently is an investor in multiple businesses, we shareholders really dont care how the company is run as long as we are making money. Its a different world when you have been on the other side. Blackrock and Vanguard or whoever are looking for returns only, not how Franke/Biffle run the company and treat employees. The horror stories we hear even today at F9 really doesn't matter to any of their shareholders as they just posted a Q2 profit.

Ill throw this out there though... Ual, AA, Delta, Fedex, UPS hiring the way they are with their movement, upgrades and retirements there is no reason why people should just pull their apps from them. If you are young(CA or FO) id still leave and go there. Everybody I know that left does not regret that move and they are happier, so nooo you dont have to settle and deal with it. There are so many options today that we have never seen in our lifetime as pilots. Even senior CA's I know here are considering leaving... alot of places can make that pay back within 1-2yrs.