Benefits/Disadvantage to a Merger Fund?

[Relic01]

Anyone care to share benefits or disadvantages their companies have had with a merger fund? Be it a major, national, regional, etc. Other than the Northwest/Republic issue there's not much out there? What happened with the Chatauqua/Shuttle America deal? Did the pilot unions at US Airways/America West have a merger fund? Considering the size of the pilot group at US compare to HP, do the fund size matter with a merger? What actually took place between the American and TWA pilot groups? Was it an acquisition or just a takeover?

Thanks for the info and can anyone suggest some literature on the issue?