The word furloughed appears three times in the Transition Agreement and it always refers to a US Airways as there were no America West Pilots on furlough at the time of the signing of that agreement.

There were subsequent furloughs from both sides and now the question becomes how to re-integrate them. In the case of both sides they are either recalled in accordance with the transition agreement or in accordance with the recall provisions of their respective contracts.

The problem arises if the company is recalling in an unbalanced manner, that is more pilots to one side or the other. It appears that there will be more recalls and growth to the East. I am not certain of this but it seems to be what is likely to happen. In that case a West pilot cannot be recalled to the East according to the East contract he was not furloughed off the East contract so he would be junior to all who were hired on the East contract and recalled by that contract.

This is an unusual situation and yes on a strict DOH arrangement these pilots would be senior to some already on the East list. In the Transition Agreement, a recalled furloughed pilot from the East who accepted recall to the West was placed on the bottom of that list. This arrangement is as follows.

A US Airways pilot who accepts a position at America West:

a) will be treated as junior to all pilots who are on the America West
seniority list on the effective date of this Letter of Agreement, but
pilots on the US Airways seniority list employed by America West
under this paragraph 6 will be ranked among themselves in their
order on the US Airways seniority list;

b) will be considered an employee of America West during Separate Operations and subject to the America West collective bargaining
agreement;

c) will retain, accrue and be entitled to use his combined longevity at
both carriers for all purposes including but not limited to pay
(excluding furlough pay, which will be calculated based on time at
America West only), benefits, vacation accrual, and eligibility
towards pension contributions and health and welfare participation;

d) may be required to forego recall to US Airways for up to eighteen
(18) months from the date of his employment as a pilot for
America West;

e) will retain his position on the US Airways seniority list and will be
integrated in the combined seniority list based on his position on
the US Airways seniority list;

f) will not be required to serve a probation period as a pilot for
America West;

g) will not receive furlough pay from US Airways with respect to the
period of his service as a pilot for America West;

h) will be subject to any applicable background checks and
employment requirements for pilots returning from furlough.

Operations and subject to the America West collective bargaining
agreement;

So in actuality the parties, the union and the company may opt to apply this section to returning furloughed West pilots who are recalled East. I am not sure just what in fact they are going to do though.

A judge ruled that the West could not use the Nicolau award for seniority regarding furlough and recall during separate operations. It would appear the same is true for DOH seniority.