Originally Posted by mike734

NineGturn, read "Flying the Line" if you want some arguments why a seniority system is preferable to a merit based system for promotion. Based on your name I guess you come from a military background. You probably think promotion should be merit based. You are completely wrong, in my opinion.

Pilots who carry passengers have NO business competing with each other. That kind of motivation doesn't belong in the back of the minds of someone making life or death decisions. The safety record of civilian flying is so much better than military flying for many reasons, one of which is the ability of civilian pilots to say NO. The last thing our industry needs is sycophant and ambitious pilots taking unnecessay risks to promote themselves. It's been tried and failed.

While seniority has it's faults, it ensures that pilots can make go or no go decisions without thinking it will distroy their careers. Fortunately it's here to stay. If you want to rave on about the union and their inability to raise the bar, you're going to have to find another way. Individual, merit based promotions, is never coming back in a big way.