Seniority is a con, people put up with being treated like crap in the hope that in the future you will be ‘senior’ and reap the benefits. Take the Covid debacle at Air NZ, the airline was hamstrung by seniority, they had to pay unproductive assets to sit on the sidelines whilst making those they needed the most redundant. The guys on the right side of the deal would say. ‘My seniority should protect me!’. In a true market an Airline should be able to advertise for Captains, Checkies etc externally much like big corporations can advertise for the skills required, Seniority just means that once you reach a certain level you are ‘stuck’ and the airlines know it.