We are airlines in the Cathay Pacific group, yes, but we are different airlines with different AOC's, with different crew and cabin crew on different employment contracts. The fact we do so collectively for the Swire Group is a business construct.
{Virgin Blue/V Australia/Pacific Blue}[Qantas/Jetstar/Easterns/Sunstate/etc] are airlines in the {Virgin Australia}[Qantas] group, yes, but we are different airlines with different AOC's, with different crew and cabin crew on different employment contracts. The fact we do so collectively for the {Virgin}[Qantas] Group is a business construct.
And the same can be said for so many others. Air France/KLM, Continental/United, British Airways/Iberian, American Airlines/US Airways.
The 'us and them', 'your airline, my airline' argument just doesn't hold up.
As I already have access to both systems, I too stand to lose out, personally. However, I still think it's still the right thing to do. Your 'ugly sister' has been making a disproportionate contribution to the group bottom line for a long time now. Through a set of circumstances not of their own making, the pilots and cabin crew have been left out in the cold while every other employee (dispatchers, catering management, security, cargo, planning, line ops, the lady that pushes the tea trolley during elevensies) have been moved to CX in the exact same role with original DOJ. Aircrew are just the last piece of pie to be swallowed.
For those that rely on staff travel to get home; yes, it's a bitter pill to swallow. But the unpalatability of the medicine bears no relation to its need.
In a perfect world, we would have joined the 2 lists into a Y on date of merger and so many birds would have been killed with one stone. But, both unions had their eye off the ball and now we're where we are.