First...what does "fair" have to do with anything? Do you think everything is fair? Are we living in a society of entitlements where everything should be fair?

Do you think it's fair that if you put 20 years into a job and they go under all the employees should have to give up their career or start at the bottom somewhere else?

Do you think it's fair that a pilot who is mediocre at best can advance through his career by just barely scraping by with his co pilots carrying his weight because he had a decent personality and managed to get hired at the right airline at the right time?

Besides, you just pointed out that nothing about the current system prevents cronyism anyway. I see no difference. The seniority system makes cronyism worse because a particular "demographic" can easily stack the deck in a seniority system and then that airline is stuck with it for the whole generation even if the "demographic" changes.

Personally...I don't see any of this as relevant to the discussion though.

My point is that pilots, like most professions, should be able to get a job and a position based on their experience.

If you are a Boeing captain somewhere, and you want to leave your job for whatever reason to work for another airline, you should have the right to apply for a position at that other airline at the same position and that airline should have the right to hire you. There are tons of valid reasons why someone may want to do this.

Our current system of seniority locks you into your job...it's worse than being in the military. Pilots in communist countries have more freedom.

What baffles me is why so many pilots think this is good for their career and their pay.