Originally Posted by svergin

Kirby said the only reason we would want them is JFK, and it would be too expensive just to get some gates there. But he also said there might be another way to get JBs gates without buying them. But he didn’t go on and nobody asked him any more.

Originally Posted by rightside02

Kirby at many charm school events saying it ain’t happening , def means it’s already a done deal.

Originally Posted by Sunvox

ALPA merger policy would be in place for all people currently on the seniority list. The process is very mechanical with a computer program having been used for the last several mergers to create the merged list, and that program uses category and class as the primary driver of the merged list.

The category and classes look like this:
1) widebody captain
2)narrow body captain
3) widebody FO
4)narrowbody FO
5) E190 captain
6) E190 FO
7) furloughed pilots


Now the key factor to understand and the one that throws some folks is that it's not what people are actually holding that matters, but what they WOULD hold if everyone took the highest category and class available to them based on their seniority. As Jetblue has no WB captains, the ALPA program would start slotting them in somewhere around 3000 (approximate number of WB capt slots at UAL) and the bottom would consist of the most junior Jetblue pilots equal to the total number E190 captains and FOs. They would end up on the bottom of the list and the program would slot everyone else somewhere in between depending on the percentages put into the program by the arbitrators. I know, I know I can hear folks rolling their eyes now, but trust me that is how it would work.

Not everyone likes the new system, but it really has taken most of the guess work out of seniority list integration for ALPA carriers.


Here was my guess for my spot during the CAL/UAL merger:



I ended up at 6551.

Originally Posted by pilotpayne

Yeah that seems right. Nobody is ever going to like anything. And as many have said it’s a slim slimmmm chance. Now if we do start play this game let’s say SWA goes for JetBlue does United sit back at watch or do that try to drive the price up. JetBlue is the company that just does not fit nice with really anyone unless they went full ULCC and merged with Spirit. It’s definitely an odd puzzle piece. But fun to kind of game out where it could go. I don’t worry about it because nobody cares I can’t do anything about it.

Originally Posted by Learjet driver

In what kind of world does it seem right that a JetBlue pilot would magically end up a 777/787 Capt after an SLI? We have pilots here at the 20 plus year longevity that are at 8000 on the UAL list with actual wide body Capt expectations. To start slotting a JB pilot into a UAL list at 3000 would be an absolute windfall. There is NO relative seniority in an ALPA merger. It may have seemed that way in the UAL/CAL merger (and other recent mergers) but that was more of a merger of equals. JB and UAL are not equal in anyway.

Originally Posted by Flyby1206

Everyone at UAL has widebody expectations, so just staple JB below all of them. Right?

At some point the other pillars of the merger policy kick in. Career expectations are just 1 part of the puzzle.

Originally Posted by O2pilot

You’re ignoring the fact that 7,000 UAL pilots have more longevity than 100% of JB pilots. I’d be shocked to see JB #1 end up better than 5,000 on a combined list adding in longevity.

Also we have a huge 757/767 fleet that would be a higher status/category than JB’s Airbus planes.

Originally Posted by Sunvox

That's the same comment pilots were making during the CAL/UAL SLI negotiations. The program and the rules are pretty much mechanical. Category and Class then you choose a percentage of influence for longevity versus economic expectations. It doesn't change "Category and Class". The arb's do use fences, but a 5 year fence turns out to be meaningless in most folks career.

Originally Posted by Learjet driver

If this rumor ever comes true please stay as far away from the merger committee as you can!