If SWA had already made a deal with Boeing and Delta about off loading the 717s to Delta I seriously doubt you'd see any situation with pilots at AAI furloughed or flushed to DAL. Nor would DAL probably agree to taking on AAI pilots during an AAI merger with SWA so as to gain 717s, could you imagine the lawsuits and issues that would arise that'd seriously throw a wrench into any plans?

The way I see it if a deal was already struck yesterday with Delta you would just see AAI transition pilots off the 717 to the 737 slowly as the year moves on and Delta ramp up slowly on its new category. By the point the SLI and SOC are achieved SWA and DAL could be in position for a much faster transition of 717s.

SWA is getting 19 737-700s in 2011 and 12 737-800s for an airline that many analyst claim has and is having stagnation in their growth. 31 planes in 2011. If DAL took 15 717s in 2011 from SWA/AAI it'd still be a net growth of 16 planes that yes would make the SWA side fat with planes and AAI fat with pilots but some slop could be offset by a means far simpler than any transition of pilots to a third party.

So since SWA has more 737s on firm order than AAI has 717s and because DAL could grab 6 717s out of the desert to augment the 717 category not to mention from other airlines you probably would see the transition to be simple and not detrimental to any AAI pilot. Especially since anything negative could throw the AAI merger into a tailspin.

Maybe there is a reason the DC-9 retirements have been moved up? <<< conspiracy theory.