Originally Posted by
VariablePitchP
Lots of talk about fairness of a non-seniority system but none how would it actually be played out.
Imagine you are looking for captains...
Seniority airline: first in gets it. Done, that’s literally all there is to the process. How can it be any more transparent in any possible way. Might not like it, but it is transparent.
Non seniority airline: erm... make sure your mate is the trainer doing the assessment?? 🤷♂️
So there's no assessment before someone is placed on the upgrade course except that their number is up next? Some solution.
Originally Posted by Fair_Weather_Flyer
I worked for an airline that went from a seniority, promote from within culture to a “merit” and “experience” based system with a heavy focus on direct entry Captains. It wasn’t pretty and the people it often attracted were :-
- those who had been sacked from previous airlines for safety reasons, but rated and available now
- friends of managers from inside the airline
- friends of managers from outside the airline
- individuals that had lied about experience, qualifications and even one with a criminal conviction for perjury
- other airlines non-upgradable FO’s with bags of hours and a chain of failed upgrade attempts. These were made DEC’s or continued to fail upgrades
That's an indication of a
deep and systemic culture problem within an airline, rather than lack of seniority list.
Any sensible airline will always promote from within where possible, as training department will have had complete oversight into candidate's training history and the candidate would already have time on type, SOP knowledge, route experience, works of the company etc. DECs are always a bit of a wildcard.