yup...''east'' pilots wanted date of hire. and why not? DOH worked with other mergers. 20 plus years in the cockpit is still more ''know how'' than 7 years.
Well, interesting theory but in the real world very few U.S. airline seniority list mergers in the past three decades have gone date of hire. Piedmont-Empire perhaps? I don't think so...
As you and I know from personal experience, there are usually ratios, fences and some version of
Allegheny-Mowhawk LPP's (Labor Protective Provisions). I've even had folks given their commuter airline date of hire and put on top of me on the 'A' scale years after I came to work for an ALPA mainline carrier under a 'flow-through agreement'.
I think a date of hire merger is like that mythical National Seniority List and the nationwide SOS (Suspension of Service), sounds great but don't think we'll live to see it. Maybe the Great Airline Pilot Shortage will arrive someday but I've been waiting for it since it was predicted in the FAPA newsletter over three decades ago.
From those heady days just before the 9-11 attacks a wise man presciently wrote here on PPRuNe:
What goes up, must come down. Companies such as TWA and PANAM were top of the tree in the past. Now other companies such as United and AA are at the top. However, and this is my point, noone can be too smug, as the same fate may very well befall those who are currently on top. Only two things are certain in life, death, and a hostie!!
http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/2...html#post29928