Originally Posted by
cole
I understand both pilots at AAI/SWA will become a captain on a 737. But a SWA pilot in their career is going to make ALOT more than a airtran captain would, right? So if I started a one airplane airline that flew a 737 making 40k as a captain, and SWA bought me, my career expectation would be a 737 captain. Do I get relative seniority, now instead of being on the top of a 4 person airline, I am on top of SWA seniority list making at least 250k? I mean I was going to be a 737 captain at my old airline, I deserve to be a captain at SWA now right?
Pay is ephemeral, seniority is forever. United was in the $240 per hour range for the 747 in late 2000 while SWA was something like $80 less per hour. Now SWA's top 737 captains make $16 more per hour than the 747 pilots at United. That doesn't mean that if an SLI had happened in 2000, the SWA guys should have or would have been placed below every UA captain, or that if it happened now, the SWA guys should be placed above every UA captain. Contracts change every few years, but equipment types last for decades, and is much better of a metric to use for an SLI.