12 or 20 pilots that churn off the bottom of the seniority list doesn’t seem significant enough to debate.

100 next year? lol ok. Heard that before. I will believe it when I see it, not before. I have been here 7+ years. Since I was hired not a single growth projection has been met. We have 4ish more tails today than we had the day I was hired. Today 737 SEA CA is going to pilots with the same TOS as those being awarded 787 SEA CA at Hawaiian. In 2023 I was senior enough to hold SEA 737 CA. Now I am over 1000 #s away. This place hasn’t just stagnated. From a career progression perspective it has imploded. 737 SEA CA at DL is about 3.5-4 yrs TOS right now. Not only have we not grown, we haven’t even hired enough pilots to match retirements, we are shrinking as a pilot group. Our contract has more holes in it than Swiss cheese and our Union is pathetic. I have zero confidence they will navigate this merger in any way that benefits the pilots that provided the labor to put Alaska in a place to purchase other companies and “grow”.

I have been privileged enough mentor several young men from disadvantaged backgrounds that want to become airline pilots. Several of them are at various stages of the Horizon Pilot development program and/or the ascend program or at Horizon itself. I have begun recommending to all of them that Alaska should be their backup airline if Delta and United don’t call. Based on their backgrounds, DL or UA will call once they have their hours. Just take the money and run, run far away.