I flew with split crews and with integral crews. From personal experience and from reading the CRM guys stuff, it is safer and better for team building to keep crews together. So it is not just a matter of being used to something.
Whether we are talking surgical teams or airline crews, one only has to read a little to find that cultures develop rapidly on teams but if the team keeps changing players, the team never really develops. Yes, I know it works but saying it works does not validate the concept anymore than using a knife as a screwdriver. It works but it is not optimum.
Good friends at Delta say often they only meet the A-line and never get a chance to brief the entire F/A group. Team??? when they don't even know each others name??
You can read Helmrich, Orasanu, Dismukes, Hooey, Wickens, Chappell, Merritt, Jensch, Bowers or any of the other researchers and they have all found the same. Crews that form teams work together better and swapping out crewmembers every few legs inhibits that formation.
