Agreed. I'm prepared for a complete screw job. VX has absolutely nothing to lose in any of this. The Arbitration panel is required to consider the effects of Longevity...how much they weigh that is obviously unknown. It will be interesting to see as the longevity disparity is unprecedented.

One upside for AK is a default fence between the Bus and Boeing. I don't see a whole lot of people wanting to go through 3 months of training to get the same pay. Some will for base reasons but not many. No one asked for any of this, so blaming either pilot group for anything is ridiculous.

Oh let everyone dream and vent... this will take a while to get done. It is something we are all very passionate about because the results are so final, affecting the quality of our lives for the rest of our careers. When it is all done it may sting for a short while but the outcome I am confident will leave most unharmed. A few will probably end up hitting a home run, hopefully those few will have some class when that happens. I am sure a few really will get the short end, to those I am honestly sorry. In the end we will all be ok.

I just hope that when all is said and done we come together, don’t hold grudges against each other for things out of our control. Stand united, strong and firm Contract 2020!

Two things here.

First in our SLI 8 years of longevity difference between pilots moved the seniority percentage about 3%. That was with a 35% weighting for longevity. I have no idea of the voodoo math behind the algorithm they used.

Second, there were many UAL pilots who were on reserve on the Airbus, who post-SLI could be in the top 10% of the 737, MANY of them did exactly what you mentioned and switched to the exact same pay category just for seniority.

Also, each pilot group flooded into the other legacy bases. UAL pilots living in TX came into IAH in big numbers. Friends of mine in EWR complained about moving down the 737 Captain list as UAL pilots bid into that base. CAL pilots had no problems filling vacancies in ORD, LAX, DEN, SFO, and IAD because we had pilots living in the area that were commuting previously.

We still have guys that argue over our SLI and that was 4 years ago!

If both sides are complaining equally (or close to it), it probably was a good SLI.

What's most funny is that each of the bottom 1/3 of each airline, remained in the bottom 1/3 overall, but complained that they got screwed.

The "screw job" comes from pre SLI expectations. If guys look at relative seniority and are able to keep the same QOL/base/airframe/seat/upgrade potential they had pre-merger, then you really can't hope for anything more than that.

It's when guy do the pecker-measuring pre-merger and thing they're going to "buy" some other airline, or because they're the bigger/better/badder airline so they should gain some kind of advantage from it, that's when the anger/disappointment come in full force.

Good point Bunkerviper. Let's not beat around the bush here. Alaskan is the bigger/better/badder airline. Maybe not by a yuge margin but it is. Alaskan acquired Virgin and it's really not a merger, though the company loves to paint a rosy picture, especially for the sake of Virgin employees. Average Joe line pilots have no say in the SLI nor do we have any control over the outcome. One thing is for sure--not a single Alaskan pilot will benefit from this SLI, regardless. This SLI has the potential of making the east vs. west debacle look good.

It's funny, I was at a hotel bar on an overnight with a bunch of other crews. The dude next to me asked who I worked for. I told him, and his eyes got really wide. I asked him what his story was... AA former USAir former America West.

To sum up his comments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHjlM5A1jME

I'm curious to know what the pilot groups think regarding the upcoming allocation of Airbus equipment to largely north-south routes (LAXSEA, SEAPHX, etc.) while the 739ER fleet is placed on what were once VX transcons like LAXJFK, SFOJFK, etc. Does the change affect whether or not pre-merger AS pilots would prefer to transfer to Airbus equipment, etc?

Not trying to start a war, I'm just genuinely curious to know what the AS and VX pilots think and how it might color your perspectives on the integration.