Originally Posted by
Eclan
Some people seem to think it was fair and equitable that those who did their time at the bottom of the list get to enjoy their time at the top and that system seemed to work well for a long time.
Except promotion and progression has never been constant and linear. Therefore those who would be stuck at the bottom for a long time in a downturn would be taking an unequal share of the burden.
I suppose a pilot (especially a Gen Me pilot) joining today would be very happy to see the flying spread evenly but for many people when it comes to rosters, as with many things in life, with age comes conservatism. I know a guy who was #1 on the list and when he retired after 50 years of flying his last flight was aguably the ****tiest in the schedule and he told me it was one of the greatest disappointments of his career. I think he would disagree with this new system.
This may sound callous but who cares? He should be grateful for the opportunity to enjoy a long career. From some points of view it isn’t the pilots of today who are “Gen Me”, trust me older generations have no problem making their primary goal the enrich of themselves at everyone else’s expense.
There is momentum to move to more equitable rostering systems in places which don’t have it, but you won’t find any push to return to a pure seniority based rostering system where it doesn’t exist. It’s dying out for a reason, it’s unfair and creates unnecessary pain and burden for some for extended periods of time.