PSYCOBFH - I think that you don't understand Sir Michael's love for bmi. The whole reason bmi has survived as it has and with the embryonic longhaul operation is because it wants it like that. Bean counters would have shut it down years ago! It's his train set and he wants bmi to be long (and medium) haul!
Buying BMED would be a commercial tool to help achieve this. It'd be suprising to see BMED survive as it is, there just would be too much complication for two similar but separate bmi operations at LHR so expect soon to be over at the Central Area in T1!
Whenever airlines merge, there's always winners and losers and its always done a little differently (BA/BCAL, BA/Dan Air.....) but looking at when bmi last merged in another airline - London City in 1990: Ranks were maintained, seniority positions (for determining leave/staff travel etc) were established by the merger date (i.e. at the bottom of the then BMA list), but for the purpose of LIFO in case of contraction, seniority was deemed the date of joining the respective airline, so the joining date was shown in the seniority list as the date you joined your airline. You can still see this ex-London City rationale in the current List.
However, what we do know is at the moment - no-one knows!!
