Hi Anton,
I fully agree with what you say. The seniority system is clearly flawed, but as many others have said, with what system would we replace it?
Regarding IAG`s purchase of BMI, the harsh reality is that they only wanted the slots to enable expansion at LHR. As a business their aim is simply to generate the highest revenue from the use of those slots whilst keeping the cost side as low as possible.And they have clearly stated that "BMI unit costs will not be allowed to increase".
That said, the point remains that on the issue of pay, then there will be no disadvantage whatsoever for the ex BMI guys. More a much better chance of future pay increases. So complaints of "no pay rise for the rest of my career" are clearly baseless in fact.