All this mines bigger than yours bollox is really missing the point. The pilots at Virgin and bmi will have to go with the flow come a merger/takeover whatever it may/may not be. Pilot seniority will be low on the agenda for the movers and shakers at the centre of such a deal. Doesn't matter on the size of your plane or what you do with it. I think VS are in a potentially precarious position with the ensuing financial crisis with the world economy(especially US)/open skies/high fuel costs/lack of alliance partner. bmi also suffer from a couple of these factors but to a much lesser extent. Virgin are hurting as the subtle cutbacks become evident but all airlines are entering what will be a difficult time. A tie-up would make sense for for both but I just can't see SRB & SMB seeing eye-to-eye on this one. The backdoor route for Virgin through LH seems much more likely.