Date of hire and A/C assignment
Bean:
Yes that is always a factor, however date of hire and aircraft assignment are two different things. At a major some are assigned to F/E or get a choice at an F/O position.
Example at AA some where hired as F/E or F/O to the F100, MD80 and even B767. It all depends on the needs of the company at date of hire after bid runs for line pilots, etc. At AE in 1994, I was hired to the SD3-60, while others after me were assigned the ATR.
In addition, AE is going to an all jet fleet in the future and it may not be as much of a factor with state-of-the-art equipment in the form of an RJ. CAL, in my opinion, had a better flow through. CAL still hired to mainline and the Express, but DOH dictates bid seniority. Some RJ Captains would remain in the RJ after their flow through date arrived and were paid an override. Each person uses their seniority in different ways, it is hard to quantify. The point being, there are mechanisms and ways of dealing with these issues.
RJ pay would most likely go up, especially for Captains that remain in seat, even if they could take an F/O position on the mainline. Furloughed F/Os would most likely take a pay cut to come back to an RJ, but may be able to make Captain sooner as more RJs are added to replace the older narrowbodies. I don't necessarily like this, just sharing some possibilities.
The point of one list would give the company greater flexibiliy in it's decisions to deploy and change aircraft on routes. In return, the pilot work rules and pay should improve for the pilots on smaller aircraft, but the mission of the RJ and a long-range widebody are different, so some things won't change.
Much has change from 10 years ago, new ideas and ways of doing business are bound to come into play.
Jeff