No offense but how do you think the rest of corporate America works outside of airline pilot jobs? Who do you think gets the promotion to manager, the slob in the Northface jacket who strolls in 10 minutes late or the hard-worker who comes in 20 minutes early and stays 15 minutes late just to make sure everything for the day is done properly. Merit has always been used in every single job except for us pilots. We tied to seniority a long time ago and it is what it is now. But it is ridiculous that a 25 year Pan Am 747 CA would have to start over at $24k a year at some regional/smaller major. No where else in corproate America is experience just trashed down the toilet.