Originally Posted by FriendlyPilot

Any furloughed pilots will be effectively stapeled. In UAL/CAL the furloughees caused 1998 UAL hires to be merged with 2006 CAL hires and most of the 1998 hires had never even been furloughed. Furloughing drags down the active flying pilots lower on the status and category list, so any furlough at either airline will have a devastating effect on the SLI, even if they are furloughed just a few days before the Merger is Completed (independent of merger announcement date)