Originally Posted by
BoilerUP
Sure they do - just not in the sense of portable seniority and longevity.
If you had been somewhere 5 years and were on the cusp of upgrade, how would you feel if a captain from an airline that went bankrupt and shut its doors got hired and was slotted above you, in "your" captain seat?
So what? People are missing a far bigger picture here...
Why has this career been in the perpetual state of decline in the US? Just that - people are tied by the seniority system, and to make matters even worse, the government makes it virtually impossible to strike due to RLA.
Ability to vote with one's feet is about the only thing to counter this, and it just ain't gonna happen with your entire existence tied to your date of hire with absolute zero regard to your experience.