To return to the pros and cons of the datal seniority system, why in an industry full of smart people, is there no such thing as an "industry seniority number" (for want of a better term)?
About 30 years ago , I was perusing the magazine library of the Union office of the overseas airline I was flying for at the time, and came across an essay on the subject written by (I think ) a US airline captain.
He proposed a kind of a points system --licence issue date was a part of it, but mostly it was a complex assignment of weightings to your flying history--types, acheivement levels,hours, etc etc and ended up with a big multi-digit number.
If memory serves me, I think this was intended to be used to help out in a major airline merger/takeover situation of the day ,where the now familiar bogey man of two seniority ladders being pushed together was about to be faced.
It was not a replacement for datal company seniority, but an addition to it--I guess to be used when transferring to a new employer--slotting in at first in accordance with your "industry number" and then datal as usual within the Company after that.
I dont know what became of it, but I often think of the idea when I read yet again about highly experienced airline pilots starting at the bottom again over and over again through no fault of their own.
To use an old example, a doctor does not start over washing bedpans just because he transfers to a new hospital.
Surely there is a system apart from "datal with one company only" that can work--you can bet the airline industry executive collective would be dead against it--which is a case of the gauges trying to tell you something.
Datal seniority serves mainly as handcuffs (bad for you--unless you like that sort of thing....and good for them)
Does anyone know whether systems such as this exist anywhere in todays' airline pilot world --and if so how effective is it?
My only reservation is that it would need the entire world wide pilot body to stick together ---and do something which involve delayed gratification.