Sorry, you are misguided. Please, read "Flying the Line," and you may better understand the concept of "Seniority" and why it was fought for, and why it is a preferred system.
The concept you suggest would be like turning over an uabated method for a Management Team to selectively eliminate the pilots that they didn't like and keep the ones that were more submissive. Then work rules, wages, and benefits would go to heck in a hand basket. Contracts would be worthless and meaningless.
Seniority provides some basis for job security and job protection that your "proposed system" could never provide because your job would rely on subjective and arbitrary perameters. I would suppose that you may be a pilot who does not have alot of Seniority, but an inflated view of your aviation skills. If the current system is applied appropriately and standards are complied with, then all pilots, in theory, have to maintain a standard level proficiency to be allowed to fly for the next 6-12 months, depending on the type of training program that their company has adopted.
Our current system works well, and is probably better than any other system that could be applied. If you really want the type system that you profess, try applying with Emirates or Cathay Pacific. Or better yet, poll some of their pilots and ask them what system they prefer.
Hand in there, someday you will be Senior, and the Perfect Pilot!
Nah, I'm not anywhere near perfect. I imagine that I fall somewhere around average. I do the work, study, keep my Jepps up to date, and try to not get violated. In my seat, I'm moderately senior. When there are 3 days, I can hold them in the middle of the week. Even if I were at the top of the list, I would think that there needs to be something other than pure seniority.
I hear your arguments, and they are well received. It would be difficult to get a system together with protections against abuse, but that is why we have a union right? Is the union nothing more than a seniority list? That's the way it sounds, since we would lose everything we've fought for if seniority went out the window. It just seems that seniority is an antiquated system, and it needs to be updated. Maybe seniority plus merit of some kind. A blend?
This might be interesting, but clearly wouldn't be accepted by the pilot group. Since FOQA (FDR downloads) is on the way, we could use that as a reliable measure of proficiency? Right now it is de-identified, but what if it weren't? What if you are judged based on how many infractions your flights record over the course of a year? (Flap overspeeds, speed below 10,000 feet, G-loads, hard landings, etc.) It could see who was PF based on the XFR switch, plus averaged over a year, you would see patterns, I'm sure.
Our union has some smart people in there, right? Why can't they come up with a good system to augment seniority? Of course the senior people want to keep seniority. It's like tenure, once you get there, you don't have to do anything to stay there. Just keep breathing, and keep studying a little 2 days prior to a checkride. No one cares how you fly in the 5-6 months no one is watching!
I know I'm banging my head against the wall. It would just be nice if you people would think outside the box sometimes.
