Pilots Reach Integrated Seniority List (ISL)
 

Late last night, the respective CAL and UAL MECs released the arbitrators' final version of the merged United pilot seniority list integrating the legacy United and Continental pilot workgroups. I have been following the progress of the arbitration and eagerly awaiting last night's announcement, which had been pushed back a few weeks from a mid-late August timeframe.

This paves the way for further progress in merging the two subsidiaries, as the only barriers keeping pilots from 'crossing over' between the sUA and sCO fleets are now operational and logistical.

It appears the ISL marginally favors legacy UAL pilots in that it is substantially similar to the proposal advanced by the United MEC in arbitration, while the 'long shot' proposed ISL offered by the CAL MEC was mostly rejected. In sum, pilots are in similar relative position on the merged list as they were on both predecessors. United pilots largely lost 3-5 years of actual seniority based on the nearest Continental pilots on the list, owing to the fact that sUA is overall a more senior operation. On the other hand, United furloughees in many cases are listed ahead of active Continental pilots who had been never been on furlough. In those cases, the United furloughees are typically 6-8 years more senior than the nearest Continental pilots on the list. However, those United pilots on furlough as of 10/1/10 are subject to furlough out of seniority if necessary (that is, before junior Continental pilots who were never on furlough).

There are some other aspects of the contract and the ISL that do not bear discussing here, but suffice to say, it was a long, hard-fought battle and most folks are glad to see that it's over. There is a saying, "if everyone is angry, then the arbitrators got it right." While not everyone is angry, per se, there was definitely shared sacrifice across the board.

I don't think either side, or any particular subset of the respective pilot groups, 'won big' in any event, so now it's time to move forward into the next phase of integrating... actually working together!

Great news. So does that only leave the flight attendants seniority list to be merged before the pmUA and pmCO crews are truly one? And how far has that progressed.

Congratulations to pilots from both groups.


United Pilots Integrate Seniority List

Congratulations to both parties. Thankfully it doesn't sound as bad as the HP and US pilot's seniority list integration issues.

Also agree this is great news, and eager to hear how things are going for the FA's.

Another note, there are 'fences' in place, such that no premerger CAL pilot can be awarded a vacancy (CAP or FO) on the -400 or A350, while no premerger UAL pilot can be awarded a vacancy on the 787 until either five (5) years after adopting the ISL or the date of the 25th 787 delivery, whichever comes first.

This is similar to the way in which Delta fenced its 777s while NW did the same with its -400s in their integration. I'm not sure when that fence expires (if it already has).

Insofar as the fact that there is no integration!

So how does that work once United's (pre-merger) 787's start to arrive?

And what's the realistic timeframe for when we'll start seeing split crews?

Umm, the 787 question is already answered.

There will be no distinction. The first 25 787s, regardless of the predecessor company who placed the order, will be exclusively flown by former Continental flight crews. The UAL team first proposed a fence for the -400 fleet, since that aircraft is particularly symbolic for the UA side despite the fact that it is now pay-banded with the 764/777/787/A350. The CO side countered with a 787 fence. The final bargain was a fence for the -400/A350 on the UA side and 787 on the CO side. I think the fence will probably expire some time in 2015-2016, given the expected pace of 787 deliveries.

My understanding is that we will see UA crews on CO airplanes and vice versa this fall, and mixed UA/CO crews following early next year. 777s are high on the list in terms of commonality.

They aren't even close to where the pilots are. :(

Is the arbitrators' decision available on line?

Actually, it wasn't (until the follow-up), which is why I asked it. I was asking because as you may know there are two different 787 orders - one from CO and one from UA. Currently we've only seen CO ordered aircraft, hence why CO pilots were flying them. Thus, depending on order delivery, if they weren't being treated as one lot of 787's regardless of ordering company it would be plausible that UA 787's would arrive before the 25th CO 787.

Based on the follow-up, he noted that they're simply going to treat the two orders as the same. Though interestingly, if my order-book searching is correct - 25 was the total 787's that CO had originally ordered. Probably why the number was selected.

Thanks EWR764.

There's a small PR release:

http://www.alpa.org/Portals/Alpa/Pre...4-13_13.48.htm

A side by side comparison is listed on the site:

http://www.pilotsunited.com/

Thanks. I've seen those. I was hoping that the decision may be out there. Would love to read it.

I think the 25th 787 delivered to UA is the 25th 787 delivered to UA.