Originally Posted by
ForeverFO
What happens when the "merit system" not only gets it wrong and promotes ineptitude and incompetence, it does so consistently and on a large scale?
Just about any ex-military can tell horror stories about this. I saw good pilots and officers fall by the wayside, while brown-nosers who couldn't fly out of a wet paper bag get the promotion. Fortunately for the military, this seemed to end at about O-6, colonel. O-6 and above, the vetting is so intense, few losers slip through.
Most of us who transitioned to a seniority based system felt a sense of profound relief.
Years ago, when I was flying in the Guard, and in the Arilines, I was trying to talk a Gaurd buddy into going to my airline. He was a full timer, a real fast burner at the Guard, hard worker, but in the office all day.
Not my idea of a good time, but he said he didn't want to be a Flight Engineer for several years before he got a window seat. He couldn't understand why he would have to go 'backwards' (he was a KC135 AC) when he took an airline job.
I had to explain the seniority system to him, and how, when your number comes up, you move up. He said "You mean to tell me if one guy is a slacker, a real idiot, but he's senior to another guy, who is a hard worker, the slacker gets to move up first??!"
And I said, "Yup, but that's the beauty of it, sucking up and kissing arse won't get you to upgrade any faster, like the Military does!"
The joke of the day was, if someone really couldn't fly, they'd give him a desk job, usually in the Safety Office, because it was much safer for everyone, to have him in an office!
Oh, my buddy didn't go to the airlines, but did advance all the way to the number 1 spot at our unit and retired as an O6...then he calls me up, to see if the airlines are hiring...
At my airline, if you fail your upgrade ride, they'll give you a second shot, if you fail it again, you go back to where you were, and stay there.