Never say never; First merger I was laid off before the seniority list was put together, went to a non sked furloughed after landing in Kingston, Jamaica no ticket home. Air Jamaica chief gave me a ride to JFK three hours after my furlough notice was delivered by the station manager. Two other friends same day also furloughed that way; which is against the law but you do what you have to do, in this case soft begging worked. Went to work for a German non sked for two years they went bankrupt while on a layover in LAX - stranding 50,000 plus passengers worldwide. The Captain while the company credit card still worked bought us all tickets to JFK.  Passing through JFK stopped to see my first Chief he told me I was recalled in 45 days, "what were my intentions?"  I went back over to the UAL terminal where 5 DC8, complete crews were lounging until the LH flight; actually after awhile the UAL station manager kicked us out of their terminal. When I told I had a class date my Norwegian Captain said; "you know only in America could this happen, like so." The German government took us back to FRA that night. Family was in FRA. In laws lived in Scotland drove there, so now half the problem was solved leave family with in laws who loved it. Put my daughter in a Scottish primary school. Now how to get to JFK to get a flight to impending class. Oh yes they went bankrupt the day before payday. Called my chief in FRA he called his pals at KLM in Amsterdam. The defunct airline had paid up front for a ton of simulator time. So KLM gave me a pass from GLA to AMS to JFK. While in Scotland counting how many of my nine lives I had used up; the door bell rang, the postman had a huge package for me, it had cost $56 to send in 1970's money. It had all my company 727 manuals and schematics having been 727 qualified I ignored the gift, as I was not getting paid for home study, did not even lug it to school getting new ones there. Talk about waste. I had parked my 66 mustang at JFK in a friendly airline crew lot, Seaboard World Airways a major freight carrier; they merged into FTL then FedEx. The day I got back I went to see if the car still existed, it was covered with two inches of airport and snow storm grime, tires good, someone had stolen the battery. Mechanic took me to auto shop and helped me install a new battery. Car started up and ran beautifully for 7 more years. Went over to my new employer got my pass to ground school plus a parking pass from them and went to school. After that; one almost furlough where they put us on 1/2 pay for 6 months, later this was deemed illegal by NY State. Integrated list came out I had lost 300 numbers from date of hire on a 3,600 person seniority list. Placed close to the bottom over the next 30 years 37 years total, worked my way up to fewer than number 100 on a 12,000 person list. My favorite part I out lived all the numbers I lost (seniority wise)... I was eight years younger than most of the list. Went through three more mergers one I was on the surviving carrier's merger committee. The few furloughs were well behind me until the massive hiring astounding me were the days of purchasing two hundred aircraft at time. Pretty daunting stuff as my first schedule airline only had 10 planes 727s, DC8's and one 707. As my major major CEO told me in a negotiating session; pilots are just interchangeable part numbers. Being a pilot in the airlines is much like being on a checker board never knowing when you will be killed off by Wall Street or king for the day.