I've said this before when this perennial topic was raised but perhaps it is worth repeating. Seniority is a relic of an era when pilots typically joined an airline and stayed for life. In those circumstances, it worked well. In the deregulated world of today it is a positive disincentive to mobility of labour - it is quite ridiculous for a highly experienced airline pilot to join a major airline at the same level as, say, a newly qualified cadet. Equally, it is wrong to destroy the morale of junior pilots by constantly bringing in others above them. My suggestion is a qualified seniority system whereby new pilots can be inserted at a point commensurate with experience but only up to a point in the list, above which the list is "frozen" so once the ex-cadets et al have crossed the line, they can be assured of normal progression opportunities. It's not perfect but, I believe, better than what we have at the moment.