Originally Posted by rickair7777

If the economics dictate that small-plane pilots get paid peanuts, at least give them a mainline seniority number for their trouble.

The reason the mainline pilot groups never wanted to absorb the small plane flying is because new-hires fresh out of the military would then have to fly small planes for low pay to start with. The current system allows most military pilots to get into the money immediately, while maintaining a b-scale caste system made up largely of civilian pilots. Doing anything else would be a radical cultural shift.