vctenderness You're forgetting steward 2s had last choice of crew food, and usually ended up with some manky fish dish that no one wanted. Oh on VC10s cabin crew always spoke to the Captain via the First Officer. Those were the days before CRM of course.
Personally I feel seniority is needed, (call it the pecking order if you like) People who have stayed loyal to a company should have their work recognised and this is one way of doing it, along with experience of course. If you were to report for a flight and draw lots for working senior positions then I don't believe that there would be proper leadership and mistakes could ultimately be made.
I worked on a longhaul flight once where a senior member went sick and the whole service went t**s up because the junior appointed hadn't got a clue, even having worked first class for years!