Carping about the seniority system is useless. It's part of the union protocol and unless unions are made illegal, it's going to stay. It's usually the guys on the outside of the system and the wannabees that complain about it. With so many workers doing the same job within the company, all subject to meeting standards of performance, a meritocracy system would be unworkable. Too many people, too many subjective evaluations by too many individuals.
From what I've seen, most major airline pilots are relatively within the same skill level. The fact that you join a company and it goes bust later on . . . like any worker, those are the breaks of the game. Or sometimes you get lucky . . . lets say you could only get hired by the finacially insovent TWA in the last 10 years and then it's assets get bought by American - instant pay raise and a job wiht a company that you probably couldn't even get an interview with to begin with. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
I propose that you Brits and Euros legislate the end of the seniority system in the UK and Europe. Let us know over here in the States how bad the experiment turned out. Easyjet can keep their system and their lousy pay. I'll stick with our system, our pay, benefits, and work rules, even if I am toward the bottom of the seniority list.
[ 18 July 2001: Message edited by: Roadtrip ]