But surely a bidline system is only good for those at the top of the seniority list?
For the many, many more who are at the bottom of the list the bidline system is not greeted with such enthusiasm. After all, who wants to fly the trips that nobody else wants for years?
In my 40-odd years of flying I have flown for airlines without the bid system (except one) and it has been much fairer not to have such a nasty system and for everything to be shared out equally.
I hasten to add that I am now No.1 on the present list but I still fly the roster that is given to me without complaint.
Maybe some of you are about to learn what coffee actually smells of!