I gotta disagree on the elimination of the seniority system. Yeah, it sucks if your company goes TU with no fault of your own, however this industry was, is and always be who you know to get with a good major or company. The senority allows a continuous movement up (albeit it slowly), from reserve to line-holder FO, from FO to CA, weekends off, etc. Having management cherrypick who upgrades, who gets what equipment, who is a lineholder vs. reserve would be a disaster. So I'm gonna work for a company for say 15 years, finally upgrade, then have the CP friend who just lost his job go ahead of me because "he a good ol' boy."? Am I gonna have HR plug in someone ahead of me because "We need more black/female/gay/whatever Captains, so your gonna have to wait to upgrade". No thanks. Senority lists has it's problems, but the alternative is much worse.