I understand your post and as always, there are a few different issues, each touched on in the thread. And they are probably interwoven as the the SLI and JCBA are NOT negotiated in a vacuum. But I heard comments on the line and from correspondence with reps that UAL might expect a more favorable SLI. The reason being that they ONCE had a higher pay rate for the 747 than the 777 from the contract ten years ago. That would be a maneuver to show greater career expectations, but using an example from an old contract. And the statements you made are the same: that negotiating a JCBA with a fenced off higher payrate might show different career expectations if the SLI is arbitrated with that in mind. I guess it really doesnt matter as the arbitrator will have all of the information available. Its the same thing that they have to process regarding the composition of the fleets. Is it better for UAL guy because they have a much higher percentage of widebodies? Or will the arbitrator see that they have a much higher percentage of widebodies because they parked most of the narrowbodies and nearly 1500 pilots? Will he see each of our last decade's performance or anticipate what each of our next decade's performance would be without the merger? Will he see more UAL guys with earliar dates of hire or is longevity figured in a different way? Will the snapshot show all the returned CAL pilots from the last bid? Or was it taken a few months ago? Lots of questions and the only good thing is that it isnt in our individual control.