NoD,
No it's not just the "prestige" of another stripe & title - it's about career structure.
As it stands, the requirements for promotion to Senior F/O in my company are:
i) 3000 hours or more
ii) An ATPL
iii) Successful completion of a command assessment course
I have the first 2. My issue is with the 3rd requirement - having looked at the replies I've received so far (thanks everyone), it seems that I work for the only company that relates the postion of Senior F/O to command.
I have no problem going through a command assessment - I would love to. However, the state of the company is such that the last thing they are concerned about at the moment is organising & paying for a whole bunch of (now eligible) F/Os to go through this assessment which I consider (and BALPA agree) to be totally unneccesary. In fact, the company doesn't generally bother putting guys through a command assessment unless there's a command vacancy i.e. you'll go straight from being a 2-stripe F/O to Captain which is why there are virtually no Senior F/Os in the company.
I have been with the company for nearly 7 years now, and still wear 2 stripes. There are dozens of very experienced, very able F/Os in the company who have been here for a long time, who still only have 2 stripes. A lot of us are on the long-haul fleet, of which one aircraft is on a damp-lease to SAA; in SAA, 2 stripes = "boy pilot" which means we often have these guys looking down their noses at us, assuming we have no idea what we're doing, despite the fact that a lot of us are more experienced than a lot of their Senior F/Os! In fact, we can technically be in command of the aircraft over deepest, darkest Africa (while the skipper's on his break), but considered to be "boy pilots"!!
Another reason for getting this sorted is to give Captains some of idea of the experience level of the guys they're flying with. They should know that flying with a Senior F/O means this guy has been around for a while, is experienced and knows what he's doing, wheras a regular "2-striper" might be fresh out of the tin with only 200 hours.
Also, in my company, Senior F/Os are able to board the a/c without a Captain present. I have, on several occasions, been unable to board the a/c when the Captain's not been there because of this restriction, which has subsequently delayed the flight.
Additionally, and more importantly, 2-stripe F/Os are not allowed to land the a/c in full crosswind limits - they are restricted to 2/3rds of the full limits. This has caused several problems in the past when a Captain, who has just converted onto type, is then faced with landing in full crosswind limits at somewhere unpleasant (e.g. BHD) while the F/O, who has been on type for years, has to sit there and watch. Surely, you'd want the more experienced guy to be landing in such circumstances?? I know I would.
It's things like these that are the problem - not just wanted to be called "Senior"!! Fortunately, BALPA are very much on my side and most of the management are also for change - just got to persuade the Chief Pilot & DFO!!
Thanks for everyone's help so far.
BdD