That was kind of his point.

Irony.

 

Why do WE in OUR industry have the seniority system that currently exists? This is not a rhetorical question. I am curious as to how this system came to be and why it has been allowed to continue.

 

How else, do you propose, we get assigned trips or decide who upgrades and when?

 

Lottery.

That would be interesting.

 

May the upgrade be ever in your favor...

 

This will receive instant criticism, but I'm just thinking out loud. Suppose there was a metric that took into account individual pilot performance. Things like late shows, no-shows, pilot-induced delays, passenger feedback, coworker feedback (i.e. has every other pilot put you on their "do not fly with" list?), track record of careful or careless fuel consumption, etc. And combine that to some extent with the current seniority system.

If there was a fair way to quantifiably collate each pilot's performance, we could bring merit-based based progression to this profession instead of having Joe Pilot upgrade before you just because his date of birth was before yours.

Just thinking out loud.

 

In a career where you only interact with management once a year, that would be incredibly political and honestly unfair. So, a pilot that bids or is awarded afternoon flying should be punished for his on time and fuel consumption because of any number of issues (thunderstorms, rolling delays, speed restrictions or reroutes) into major hubs? And since we are talking about stratification for upgrade based on metrics, are you going to cause a stink because your captain is late or wants to fly at a less fuel efficient speed? Or maybe you're going to start snapping at ATC when they keep you lower than filed.

Then you'd have to have someone to manage this merit system. Collecting data on each pilot and how they fly...not taking into consideration any subjective variables that have caused this behavior. You flew fast because you're trying to beat a thunderstorm to the field so you don't have to divert? Too bad, you clearly aren't fuel conscious. I don't want a computer program second guessing every tiny decision I make as good or bad without any input on why I did it.

 

What if we had 2 seniority numbers? Let's say an airline seniority number and a career seniority. The airline seniority is used for bidding / upgrade / base assignment, etc. and the career seniority is used for pay. I think that is my biggest heartache with the current seniority system is that a pilot who moves loses the gains in pay they've made. Or maybe something like a category of pilot:

Cat A: 1500 - 3000
Cat B: 3001- 5000
Cat C: 5001- 9000
Cat D: 9001 - 15000
Cat E: 15001 - Ohly crap why are you still flying!

If you're a Cat E pilot and move from one airline to another airline you are automatically capped at the highest FO payscale.

 

Why would any airline hire a pilot that would come in at, for example, 4th year longevity pay when they could just as easily hire someone who would come in at 1st year pay?

 

Voluntarily, they would not. But why is this the only "professional" industry allowed to operate this way? Can you name another profession where your experience does not count when you move employers?