Treatment of New Pilots at Issue in American Airlines Labor Dispute.

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Feb. 9 -- The main issue in the dispute between American Airlines and its pilots may seem simple: how to integrate 300 pilots from Reno Air into the 9,000 who work for American.

But federal safety regulations, training protocols and complex airline labor agreements make it anything but simple.

In a nutshell, cockpit crew members from one airline can't simply be grafted onto the payroll at another. They have to be retrained to fly the acquiring airline's planes as the acquirer and the Federal Aviation Administration want.

They also have to find a place in the seniority system that determines who flies which planes and how much they are paid.

Consider one outcome: Captains who now fly Reno's MD-80s may be bumped into a first officer's seat, but they may get a raise, perhaps as much as 50 percent. That's because, even though they would rank lower on American's seniority list, American's pilots are paid more than Reno's.

In turn, with the addition of Reno's 25 planes to American's 650, some of American's first officers will move up to be captains for the MD-80s, prompting other changes down the line. In all, the airline says, about a quarter of its pilots may receive promotions.