Anthill
Your assessment of the impact of datal seniority is absolutely correct, however i'm not sure i agree with your view of removing it.
If QF were to move away from datal seniority it would be pilots from other airlines that would benefit, not the QF pilots. Same goes for VA. Imagine what would be happening at VA right now (given the current turmoil at QF) if VA did not have a form of seniority. The VA pilots would be at risk of being swamped by more experienced QF pilots. Why would VA pilots risk that. You might say "but if QF did not have datal seniority, then it would work out", but then QF and VA would be vulnerable to expats taking senior positions.
In the end, if every airline did it, sure it would probably balance out, but i can't see any way of unwinding it now that it is in place. Additionally, merit based systems always seem attractive to those further down the list invariably have an over inflated opinion of their own ability and tend to have a dim view of those further up the list. That's all well and good, but how do you
diiferentiate two pilots who go to work, do their job and follow SOP's? Are they any better or worse than the guy who dealt with the turbine failure and stuck
the 380 into SIN with 100m of rwy remaining? We don't know because they
may not have had the opportunity to demonstrate their ability. Your best pilots are usually the ones management never hear about. They just do their job quietly and professionally then go home. Merit based systems create the
environment for bad behaviour from both management and pilots.
To borrow from Winston Churchill, seniority is the worst possible form of pilot management, except for all the others.
On another note, VIPA and AIPA were absolutely responsible for the 5 year command pay guarantee for VA F/O's. It came as a response to both unions demands to ensure VA F/O's did not get completely screwed as a result of the proposed integration of the Virgin pilot groups.