Could it be flow guys that had to wait?

A lot of what happens in an aviation career has more to do with luck than making good choices. In my last class, the youngest turned 21 half way through basic indoc; when I was 21, there weren't the 'choices' or opportunities there are now. BTW, we used SSN's and all the experienced people ended up on the bottom lol!

“Pre” Ball told us that he and Charlie Dolson were hired on the same day, so they flipped a coin for seniority. Dolson won, becoming number 10.

I agree, we should reward the guy who hustles the hardest. Class seniority should go from youngest to oldest. Those older guys should have worked harder to have that extra 24 number bump.

It seems like the issue isn't overall seniority over the long run, it's the initial assignment that could take some time to move out of if it's not a good match. That kind of thing is simply harder on people with less years remaining.

Sympathy for that kind of issue is hard to find, everyone goes through new guy issues and getting a plane and/or base at the bottom of your list is sometimes part of the deal. Seems like some companies throw the old guys a gimme at hiring time 'cause they have fewer years to make up for it, and some companies don't.

My vote for seniority is straightforward - F.O.S.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R60z_7vZ0YI

You heard me correctly- Feats of Strength! If that does not work out we could possibly combine an elimination tournament of Rock, Paper, Scissors with a airing of grievances judged debate. I'm just spit-ballin' here so feel to contribute some possible ideas.

Scoop

Military assigns aircraft by merit, not age. As an older guy whose last 4 start with a 0 I'm not a fan of the current method but it is most definitely fair (or one could say arbitrary).

In this day and age where most people don't have real problems, this line of discussion is indicative of how good things really are. How exactly could DAL assign seniority which wouldn't generate this type of sport btching by some other injured party? I judge this entire discussion on the same level as people trying to come up with the 79th gender pronoun so they'd have one more reason to be offended or victimized. In fact, I've interpreted all this whining as a micro-aggression and I think I might need 3-4 days of paid leave to recover.

I agree, this pilot group is doing well if this is what we choose to debate!

This discussion is a great demonstration of what happens to a society when everyone one gets a participation ribbon/no one gets placed higher than the next person/everyone gets complimented/everyone has feelings that must be attended to.

This country has gone emotional and soft.

LOLWUT? That's 100% irrelevant it doesn't even justify a response but I'll provide one anyway.

1. I never said that
2. We're a seniority list with a CBA, ergo:
3. That's not an issue here anyway
4. This would have absolutely nothing to do with how new hire class seniority was assigned even IF it were a thing being a pilot on a SL with a CBA, which it isn't here anyway.

I still would go with age. My SSN helped me gain class seniority compared to what age would have, and I'd be against retroactively modifying anyone's seniority anyway. But going forward age is the best way to do it. The health argument is stupid because in many cases you can control large portions of your health, both now and during your career. With age you WILL be out on your 65th b'day (hopefully we can hold that line) but even if it changes, whatever age it is would change for everyone anyway. If someone has a decade or two less to spend on the list, an extra 10 or 20 spots is fair and reasonable and no one is victimized over it.

Its not just about "better choices" either. 99% of those "better choices" are already rewarded by the mentally and spiritually superior young buck ninja pilot already getting hired and on the list years or decades earlier anyway. That pilot will forever be senior to all others hired after them.

But I do agree that a truly random way to assign it would be better than the current method. I statistically would have done worse if it was done by age or random assignment (although its possible to have done better with a very lucky draw, statistically its unlikely for me) so this isn't sour grapes and I'd have nothing to gain anyway even if we did change it, retroactively which no one is advocating for, and I had a time machine to go back to anyway. In any case that's the 3rd best way to do it IMO.

The 2nd best way being date of interview/CJO. Yes you'll still have pilots who interviewed first but got put in later classes etc. But we're only talking about in class seniority since a class is all hired on the same day. Date of CJO is at least something I can't fathom anyone objecting to.