Everyone who left had a choice.

You had a choice to apply to AA
You had a choice to interview
You had a choice to fly out and tell them “why AA”
You had a choice to accept a class date
You had a choice to put your resignation in
You had a choice to no rescind it
You showed up to class with your wife, ate the dinner and got your AA wings

We all had a choice

Making a tough choice out of fear and concern of the unknown is still a choice. Don’t be soft and act like this wasn’t a choice. You’re on a legacy seniority list, enjoy the new opportunities and stop wondering “what if” NK gets bought by a “real airline,” especially when there is zero evidence of that coming true.

We can argue the finer points all night, but at the end of the day our careers at NK got destroyed.

It wasn't much of a decision, bro.

Nonetheless I'm happy to be at AA, regardless of how it happened.

Not calling you a liar, but at least one of the big 3 is forcing those furloughed to fully resign recall rights before joining on.

Apparently it was a recent change too

Quite a few who were furloughed last year and earlier this year are on both lists.

Yeah this is true. I'm honestly not sure of the logistics of how it worked or played out.

Sometimes airlines require you to resign your recall rights.

Some airline CBA's don't allow that to actually occur. Even if you send them a letter. In those cases the only way to resign rights is to non-respond to your final recall offer.

I believe those regionals only allowed you to retain longevity and pay, not seniority.

That would make more sense, but I've never actually seen it personally. It was just something I've heard pilots at other airlines bring up over the years.

I'm guessing that is something that their respective unions had secured for them.

In the history of this industry, there are the names of thousands of pilots who have ended up junior to where they would have been if they hadn't left the carrier their new carrier eventually ended up merging with. If the NK bros get scooped up in a merger, the guys who left that end up junior to their old number wouldn't be the first to experience it, nor will they likely be the last. It is what it is. Seniority by airline is stupid, but it's what we have. Make the best choice with the information you have and live with it, that's all you can do.

this sort of advice is how you’ll find yourself upside down on a legacy seniority list today. Listening to gramps Aviators from the 70s 80s 90s and very early 00s will have absolutely screwed you by ‘mentoring you’ into giving up 12 years on a Frontier, JetBlue, Spirit seniority list. At the same time, new guys getting into the industry today shouldn’t even think about signing up with a regional unless it has a direct no interview flow through to United, American, or Delta. United’s flow is a worthless gimmick so avoid theirs until it becomes more iron clad, Deltas is still questionable, American has the only real flow but this airline sucks the worst outta the three so that’s why their flow has to be strong. Southwest/Alaska will be nothing unless they make some serious moves quickly. Never ever go to an airline like Breeze or Allegiant trying to skip the line to a legacy. Stepping stone airlines Spirit, JetBlue, and Frontier are soon to be swallowed up. Southwest/Alaska better start eating or they will be next to be in the Spirit seat.

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I don’t want to rain on anyones Picnic nor hopes and dreams but the prudent thing to do is for those who are competitive for somewhere else to get their apps in. If they get a CJO they can probably finesse a 6 month delay if they want to keep their options open.
For those not yet competitive - fly your a$$es off until you ARE competitive.

I really hope that Spirit pulls through and those still there can retain their seniority in a merge, but that’s not the way I’d bet.