Company Thought Bubble:
Send any who can displace to the A380, but don’t displace. Carry a surplus which pushes the divisor down to 160 for many years. Those pilots reaching the MRA will then retire based on 160 hours instead of 180 based on their last 3 bid periods. I don’t know what the money difference would be.
Calling their bluff? I can’t see them displacing anybody. But I guess there is no guarantee that divisors will stay high on the 747.