Thanks for the feedback roadtrip. Just a few more questions on the same subject.
I'm talking here with regards to airlines with labor unions and labor contracts such as most major US airlines. Does management decide promotions to captain and international routes, widebody jets etc. or is it all based on seniority? Also I read some executive biographies where they have been pilots but not flying for the airline? In the event that such a guy/gal wants to fly as a line pilot does he/she start at the bottom and bid on schedules, or does management have power to put him/her in as a direct entry captain?
You mentioned the "force majeure" clause and it is a shame, but in this industry where labor and management have had a history of less-than-ideal relations it was bound to happen. The clause is also one of the ways the airlines make their money. Passengers are re routed via ridiculous routes and airlines, the airlines claiming effects of force majeure like a weather delay. Most famous for this was SwissAir.