Well said, our profession doesn't have the same level of "office politics" many others do. Being drinking buddies with someone won't get you an early upgrade. Can you imagine the backstabbing and screwing people over that would happen if upgrading depended on "merit".
In addition, in Freightdogs example, he is saying that Skiles should be upgraded ahead of pilots that were not faced with the same one and a million situation, even though they are just as capable of doing the same thing.
OK Dan, let's look at it from another angle. You say "merit promotion" is bad and that DATE OF HIRE is the one and only way.
What's your worth as a pilot professional? Right now, it's $169/hour or somewhere around there, right?
If Hawaiian goes by the way of Aloha.... that worth goes down to $24/hour despite your experience, at least in this country. Now, it doesn't matter what you've done in your career thus far, thanks to your seniority, your worth goes from $169/hour to $24/hour.
Here's another example... you say that FO Skiles shouldn't be upgraded ahead of peers because "others are just as capable." You said "capable" which doesn't mean as "done it." I had an in-flight problem where my FO was perfectly "capable" of handling it, instead my FO literally froze and the plane ended up being a single pilot airplane until we landed. Fact is, you'll never know how you'll handle an emergency or extreme situation until you find yourself in one and truly earn your pay.
If you do your job, you take care of your crew, you take care of your passengers and represent the best of your company, why do you feel you need seniority system to protect you? Seniority system protects the absolute lowest common denominator and it does absolutely NOTHING to promote excellence in what you do. Furthermore, it COMPLETELY negates your worth as a professional if you are one of the unlucky ones and your airline goes under.
