Fair enough Billy one sock, you don't have to agree. However the carrier you work for now already employs the practices you advocate, and in all honesty your posting history doesn't hold them up as a shining beacon for the path forwards. For example:
I too am tired of paying for bloody ID's. This lot are really testing my patience. I am now seriously thinking of moving on. You really don't know what is going to come next with this silly company.
The example you quote of the BA captain isn't really valid in that it was quite a complicated combination of post accident events that caused the captain to resign. It was a resignation and not a dismissal. The matter was resolved with the captain being reinstated to his previous rank by mutual subsequent agreement. The captain concerned ran up against problems with certain overseas carriers in respect of DEC employment simply by virtue of the fact he had been involved in an accident, rather than the circumstances of how that accident had occurred. The example is therefore fairly meaningless. However if he had applied to an airline that adopted the same seniority and promotion practices as his own employer of choice, then yes he most certainly would have assumed a seniority and rank that initially placed him behind a new cadet. In fact that is what he would have expected and no doubt accepted had he chose that particular course of action.
For almost any experienced pilot in work, the four or five major proponents of the schemes you advocate (including your own employer,) would almost certainly rank near the bottom of a list of employer preference. The reason being that the terms and conditions are so appalling.
If you want to jump ship to another employer, you need to pick and choose carefully. The best ones will nearly always require you to join at the bottom of the list and work your way up. Failing that, there is always contract work.
Do I think that is fair? Yes I do. Do I think loyalty should be recognised and rewarded? Yes I do. Do I think that those who have served time with an employer and shown themselves to be capable should be promoted in order of their place in a queue? Yes I do. Do I have "half a brain"? The requirement my employer lays down is twice that level.
I have worked for my present company for 26 years. If I were to leave or be made redundant tommorow the best I could hope to expect working for a non-seniority based operator in this country would be around 50-60% of my current salary even if I were taken on in the same rank. For employment with a desirable operator, I would expect to be earning less still and to be at the bottom of their seniority list. It would be only right that longer serving employees would have a salary and promotion opportunity benefit commensurate with their own length of service.
Terms and conditions have not suffered in the airlines you referred to because of a lack of a seniority. The conditions have eroded due to a lack of union representation. Two very different things.
I think you are torturing your own argument? Most of the better carriers allow and encourage union representation. However that hasn't stopped the downward spiral in terms and conditions across the industry. The reason being primarilly, that those new carriers whose practices you advocate have forced costs down to rock bottom. In order to compete on anything like a level playing field, the better employers have also had to make cuts. It is now much harder to reward loyalty. It is much harder to offer good retirement, medical, health, insurance and lifestyle benefits.
I am guessing you knew what you were getting into, when you made the career choices that you did? I certainly did. If you aren't happy, then look for something better, but don't suppose that others (who were luckier or made better choices than you,) should move aside to allow you to assume some perceived queue jumping strategy that you feel you should be entitled to.
Seniority and internal promotions wherever possible, are the hallmarks of the better employers. The lack of them is but one of the tools employed to drive down costs. It is hard to see why you (or me or anybody else) would be entitled to the rewards that loyalty might afford with one carrier, when that same person has contributed nothing directly towards them.
I think you want your cake and eat it.