30 years ago a 55 year old airline aquired/merged with a 7 year old start up. How did that sli work out? Where did #1 on the JetA list end up at Alaska?

As I recall they protected a group of AS pilots (186?) then ratioed in the rest. A number of Jet A guys got windfall seniority numbers. That was in 1987 I believe. In 1990 there were still AS guys angry about that SLI.

Subsequently, the AS pilot group put Dan Katz, the lawyer who represented Jet A on retainer in case another merger went down. I'm not sure if they still retain him or not.

Remember in those days AS was a 700 pilot airline with a 5 year Captain upgrade. Things are different today and I'd expect there will be a good bit of unhappiness with the ultimate result.

But, then, they say a good SLI is when EVERYBODY is upset with the result.

There it is, the first "My airline bought your airline" comment. I suggest you visit the regional subforum and read some of the posts people made about all the regional mergers over the last 10 years.

Flywest, it will be a bitter pill for you to swallow but ratios within category/class is pretty much how it works out these days. There will be no DOH integration...none. Of you believe that it will, you are just setting yourself up for disappointment.

You will end up having people senior to you that have less longevity. Many of us have been in that exact same position. It’s your choice to either accept it or have it consume your life.

Granted, it wasn't ALPA-ALPA, but the most recent similar SLI to this one is SWA-AirTran....and it was largely DOH minus a few years for the AirTran folks.

That was SWAPA v ALPA. No merger policy. This will end up +/- 5% relative seniority from where everyone is now on their respective lists. Sorry but DOH isn’t relevant in an ALPA-ALPA merger.

Was SWA-AT a negotiated list or an arbitrated one?

Negotiated (though most AirTran pilots would tell you it was with a gun to their heads! :eek:)

I know ALPA really wants us to get this right. Although there is no way it will be perfect there are many ways to protect quality of life and base position. I personally would be fine with straight relative seniority as long as the SEA and PDX base position list were protected with date of hire.
I am confident that when this is all said and done SFO BPL will not have changed and equally confident BPL in PDX,SEA,ANC,and LAX will stay intact going forward. Alpa really wants to protect the careers we expected to have prior to the merger. If you are at Alaska wanting some super seniority in SFO that is not going to happen. If you are a senior 320 CA expecting to transfer to SEA and hold AUS turns, you also are going to be very disappointed. To be honest it’s what we all should want, the career we expected uninhabited by this merger. I am very hopeful we will get there.

AK mgmt keeps talking about “optimizing” aircraft for North/South and Transcon flights. Whats to keep them from opening an Airbus base is SEA and/or a 737 base in SFO in order to make that happen? They keep hinting that the Airbus is a better N/S aircraft and the 737 is better for Transcons. Or would this work by flowing crews in and out of domiciles?
Alaska wont add on a 2nd leg after a east/west transcon right?