I'm afraid I must make a few corrections to Wino's comments again:
1. I'm interested in the comment that something much more fair was offered but turned down by TWA. What exactly was it? We were never offered anything more than we were given. Ever. We rejected the stapling of more than half our pilots because it clearly wasn't fair. All we wanted was an independant arbitor, a third party who would come up with a fair solution. AA pilots rejected that option because they did not want a fair solution. We could not sign a document we knew would destroy the careers of our pilots. And that's just what it did.
2. As to the TWA pilots getting more out of the deal than any AA pilot, I don't understand that either. We got zero credit for our experience and our years of service. I personally lost thousands of senority numbers. There are AA pilots who are 3,000 seniority numbers higher than they should be as a result, and they are able to fly bigger equipment and make Captain sooner than they should as a result. They are standing on my shoulders to bid various airplanes and routes, and I had seven years taken away from me.
3. Ozark was NOT fenced off the widebodies forever. Ozark pilots trained me when I checked out on the 767. Ozark pilots were the bulk of the most senior pilots at TWA at the time of the merger. Ozark pilots, far from being second class citizens, were the Chief Pilot and Assistant Chief Pilot at the time of the merger. Ozark pilots were permitted 16% of all training slots on the 767 and L1011 (since they made up 16% of the work force) untill the bottom TWA guy at the time of THAT merger could bid the equipment. Ozark pilots got thier FULL DATE OF HIRE. That is fair to me.
4. And I will NEVER be senior enough at AA to ever fly the 777, if I ever choose to go back to such a messed up company. I was almost a Captain, but now, if I return from furlough when recalled in 5-10 years, I'll never see the 777 and probably won't make captain on a narrowbody untill just a few years before I retire. Not exactly a stellar career prospect.
I'm confident that this will all be overturned in a court, and a fair integration will be obtained someday. But I must say I'm not even interested any more. I can't stomach the thought of ever returning to AA.