What's the difference btw Seniority and Years of Service?
 

I was thinking about it today, and realized that I can't quite put my finger on it. I know the 2 are related, but I believe that they are distinct in many ways. For example, pay is based on longevity, but seniority determines schedule.


Is seniority determined by 1 master list, or is there a captain and an FO list? For example, John and Pete are hired at the same time, and time to upgrade is 7 years. John upgrades ASAP, while Pete upgrades after 10 years. Does Pete start Captaincy with the same QOL/schedule as John did when he started, or can he hold the same line that John currently holds?


Sorry if the questions seem a bit stupid, but I haven't made it to the airline world yet, and they don't teach it in ground school :)

Seniority is where you stand relative to the other pilots on the list.
Years of service are how long you've been with the airline.
There's also a term known as adjusted longevity date which relates to how you're paid. Under some pilot contracts, if you have 5 years of service but you've been furloughed for the past two, you will be paid at the third year rate for your seat when you return.
Look, I was helpful. Mark this date on your calendar, because such events are few and far between.

That's a kick in the gonads! Thanks POPA. Anybody care to take the other questions?

Seniority places you on a list by date of hire. Longevity is basically used for pay and benefits (i.e. vacation accrual, anniversary pay increase, etc.) purposes.

Example: John and Pete get hired same day. Pete takes 1 month of FMLA (Family Leave). 1 Year after their date of hire, John gets 2nd year pay while Pete remains on 1st year pay until 1 month passes (because he took FMLA). Then he gets 2nd year pay.

To answer your second question:
John and Pete are both put on the "global" (master list with all pilots on it) seniority list when hired. John may have taken the upgrade first, but when Pete takes it, he will be transferred from the FO seniority list to the CA seniority list. His global seniority number determines where on the CA seniority list he will be placed.

Hope this answered your questions.

Thanks pokey. So if they had consecutive numbers on the global list, they will still be side by side once Pete upgrades, and they will both have the same bidding power as captains right?

Are there any airlines that do NOT do this? I know at Cathay, once you upgrade, you go back to 1st yr Captain pay. Would this mean that if you delayed your upgrade, you would be back to crap schedules as the most junior captain?

Seniority keeps you in the company, Longevity is nothing more than complacency...

I'm not sure how Cathay does it. The way I explained is the way most US based carriers operate. Some of the foreign carriers have differents ways of doing things. Many of them good, some of them bad.

I believe virgin america starts everyone over at year 1 CA pay whenever they upgrade, so it would be more advantageous to upgrade ASAP so you can get started working your way up the CA payscale.

Flyby you are correct. I forgot about them.