And then who's going to fly that regional jet? What I find from these discussions is that few pilots have any understanding of how a free market works.

What you'd likely find happen in a free market is that you could earn a higher salary flying a regional jet than you could flying a heavy jet. Much like lower end hospitals often pay their doctors better than the top of the line world class hospitals (research Mayo clinic).

Pure supply and demand would come into play. Your next response would be that regional jets would no longer be profitable....and maybe you'd be right. Certainly it would change the way US airlines operate regional jets.

For evidence of this look at Asia where there are no unions or seniority lists. Pilots of regional jets typically earn higher pay than those in the Airbus and Boeing. Often a first officer from a Boeing or Airbus will transition into an Embraer with an increase in pay. The rule applies to foreign pilots as well. The airline will usually put the most promising young FOs into the smaller jet to earn experience quickly where the ones that get "stuck" flying the heavies spend far longer sitting in the right seat.

The argument that it would bring salaries down is ludicrous considering that airline salaries have consistently declined since deregulation and the top paying airline pilot jobs in the US are the lowest levels in history (forget about short term gains and look at the long term picture). Someone starting out in the airlines today at age 30 will likely average less then $100K per year throughout the entire course of their career.

The saying goes...if it ain't broke....well it is broke and should be fixed so as pilots we need to quit thinking about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.