Originally Posted by
FXLAX
You might not lose as much seniority as you may think. First, if you were hired at UAL 1/20 and started here on 1/22, that’s only two years. Second, is it really two years worth of new hires behind you? How many have they hired since 1/20? Your seniority is only worth how many are below you. Longevity wise, you will not be at the higher pay scale. But you’ll make that up quickly at FedEx. So if you come here in 1/22, how may pilots would you have had below you at UAL? Probably not as many as you think considering they didn’t hire anyone since 3/20. It’ll probably be more like less than a years worth of people below you. Not insignificant but certainly not three years.
I'm not sure I'm following your logic regarding seniority. Pilots hired behind you don't do that much for your actual seniority. Pilots retiring ahead of you do that. If you are #100 out of 100, you have 99 bubbas ahead of you choosing schedules, vaca, upgrades, etc. If the company hires another 100 behind you and isn't drastically expanding and no one retires, then that just means they were undermanned when they hired you and there are still 99 folks ahead of you picking all the stuff you might want. Sure, you went from 100% to 50% in the seat, but that doesn't change the "buying power" you have with your seniority.
If there were 99 captain seats available when you got hired and that didn't change, then those 100 pilots hired behind you did absolutely nothing to get you any closer to one of those left seats. Pilots hired behind you are just a furlough buffer and give the company more options in properly manning the airline. That may end up making things better for you but that's not the same a pilots leaving ahead of you.