With the critical mass of the pilot community finding itself with no way to earn the same money in aviation ever again, will it still be true that seniority served its purpose?
Unfortunatly this probably will happpen and seniority will neither have served or failed in its purpose. A seniority system can rarely cater for every black swan event such as we are witnessing, and every seriority system has its own unique differences. Obviously an airline collapses entirely then that system is no longer relevant, but those in the junior ranks of surviving airlines will at least enjoy some protection and why shouldnt they.
I dont think that seniorty is a fantasic system, but its better than any alternative (especially if your airline is large and/or progession is slow).