This is my first post as I just signed up.
I am a DAL guy and though I've read this thread (and several others) I'm having difficulty understanding why the relative seniority integration is so "unfair" to NWA pilots.
When I read the terms of the original joint contract agreement I thought the NWA pilots got a huge windfall. But, putting that aside, I don't get it.
It seems the NWA guys are saying something like "Well, we've got all this big iron and you guys have a handful of 777s. We should get the majority of the senior positions..."
But, they choose to ignore the other end of their equipment spectrum. The smallest aircraft on Delta's property is the MD-88 which has 142 seats.
If my research is correct, NWA has 92 DC-9's in its fleet. They intend to reduce the fleet by 24 aircraft this fall to 22 DC-9 30's, 12 DC-9 40's, and 34 DC-9 50's. That's 68 aircraft left. Every single one is smaller than Delta's smallest aircraft.
If the seniority list integration was done by fleet mix and aircraft size NWA would enjoy protection for their 747-400 guys, but all of their DC-9 captains should come in below DAL's MD-88 captains, and the same with the first officers.
When Delta bought Pan Am's Shuttle and North Atlantic routes in 1991 The seniority integration was done by ratio. Fairly soon (within three months) DAL stopped operating several of the routes they has just acquired. For example New York - Stockholm, New York - Oslo, and New York - Lisbon. When they did that they had excess pilots. Who got furloughed? Was it the bottom A-310 Captains and First Officers who came from Pan Am to operate those routes?
Nope, it was the bottom DAL guys and the bottom Pan Am guys.
When NWA brings to the table a whole slew of older and smaller aircraft is it "right" that the junior DAL guys get furloughed?