DAL's proposed list is the same methodology used with Pan Am and Western Airlines. Both were on the verge of liquidation, and DAL agreed to ratio these pilots into the seats of aircraft they brought to the merger at the expense of decades of Date of Hire. Given the state of their airlines being days away from liquidation, these pilots were probably grateful to have any job
Carl, not quite right on the part of WAL, they were no where near bankruptcy, let alone liquidation. They were horribly compensated though,-- in 1986, the only position at WAL that paid more than DL 727 engineers, DC-9 and 737 copilots (a-scale) ..was their DC-10 captains! Every other position at DL from 727copilot thru L-1011 captain (including DC-8 and L-1011 engineer paid as much or (way) more than their highest position. Nevertheless, their DC-10 captains were slotted in with our L-1011 captains, their 727's with ours, etc. They did not have a 76/75 nor a DC-8 category, nor any stand-alone expectation of one, and the slotting reflected that. Within 2 years, WAL pilots were at parity making 30-50% more flying not only the same equipment they would have as a stand -alone, but had many more aircraft and bases to choose from---no fences) Within a couple of years DAL had established a 75/76 base in LAX and SLC, L-1011's in PDX and LAX...all manned primarily by former WAL. DAL at the time of the merger had 4500 pilots, WAL had 1500. As for Pan Am, yes, they were lucky to have jobs.