And that's one problem that I have with seniority: the system pushes people who run out of luck to extremes - how can it be right for someone who is, say, a 5 or 6 year skipper, to be laid off to find his only choices are to start from the bottom again and get in line behind the 250 hour cadet or to be told, by fellow pilots - some of who will almost doubtlessly end up in the same situation - "well there are plenty of opportunities to go into a company as a DEC...just move to China!" Of course, how simple...
That strikes me as an absolutely absurd situation to push guys into! In fact I find it not only absurd but degrading to the profession. The implementation of a completely inflexible seniority system tells the everybody, including management, that their pilot workforce only values an experienced captain (or F/O for that matter) the same as a brand new 250 hour joiner who still gets inappropriately excited at the sight of a jet engine. Do unions worldwide share this view? Or is it simply that "as long as I'm okay Jack, I don't care if that guy gets shafted!". Can anyone think of why that might be massively shortsighted thinking??
I agree that the best paying jobs generally are at airlines that don't recruit DEC's, but that's the whole point of what I'm saying - change the mentality of the industry unions and that won't be the case. It's only so now because the most unionised carriers are generally legacy, and their policy about DEC's has been the same for 50 years!! It's not that if you hire a few DEC's a year your entire airline will go down the pan, it's that current union agreements rarely allow for them. You are then left with only rapidly expanding carriers who want DEC's, and whose business strategy is the only one that leads them to expand rapidly? BINGO! The packages of majors aren't better BECAUSE they exclude DEC's, the two points are completely independent!
From my point of view, any company be it in aviation or otherwise should aim to have a balanced recruitment policy that allows entry from multiple levels, which is what happens everywhere else!!! It allows for a fresh approach and different OP's to be considered, improving the operation and very possibly saving money. If it is properly managed by unions and managements it could actually be a good thing, imagine that!
And just to be clear, I am in the RHS at the moment. DEC's being hired would negatively affect my upgrade time directly. I am not at the wrong end of the system, and I am not (I hope) close to being laid off...but it isn't difficult to see the system we have is not appropriate.
I wonder how many guys at bmi would have been dead set against DEC's right up to the point that they were merged with BA? Perhaps their opinion has been modified now - they were lucky. I suspect there are plenty of BA pilots who would have been delighted for them to go back to the RHS.