Aviation Insights

Hello, sorry for the brief absence. Back today with the mother of all topics – SENIORITY. I know I said I would post another blog about the civilian path, and I will, but I need to gather some more info on FAR’s and AIM for the sake of accuracy. So, I decided to cover perhaps the least understood and potentially most important topic in an airline career.  This is my view on what seniority is, it’s potential impact on your career, and how to get it.

Seniority….  What it is, is simply this - your position on the employee list at your company based on date of hire. In other words, any one hired before you is SENIOR to you and any one hired after is JUNIOR  to you. If you are part of a class (more than one person) of new hires, a common way to determine who gets the first seniority number in the class is by date of birth. The oldest person in the class gets the first seniority number and the youngest gets the last. In my class of 18 new hires, I was second to last. Sounds bad, but, I was also one of the youngest people in my class. More on age and seniority in a bit. So, that’s how you get a seniority number. Once you get, it counts for nearly everything in the operational part of your career. What I mean is it matters for things like which of the company’s aircraft you get to fly and when you get to upgrade to Captain etc. These things are referred to as career progression and they are all solely based on your seniority number. None of it is merit based.  For those not familiar with this topic, I suggest you read those last two sentences a couple of times and attempt to understand how the concept can affect your life as an airline pilot. Meanwhile, here is something you can understand now. You could be the biggest kiss-ass known to man and it won’t matter for your Captain upgrade or other career progression desires. Clear enough!! Finally, it has nothing to do with health benefits or other non-career progression type stuff.

Why is it relevant to your airline career. Most major carriers, regional airlines included, are unionized. And within a union, your date of hire counts, and counts big time, for everything you do, can do or wish to do. Keep that in mind as we progress in our discussion. Now, a  more detailed explanation of seniority goes something like this; you are a first officer for an airline with 3 different types of airplanes; a small narrow body like a B737, a medium size like a B757/767, and a large wide body like a B777. You’ll likely start as a new hire in the smallest airplane in the fleet of your airline. Why? Because you have NO SENIORITY. And, because most carriers have a weight/speed formula that determines your hourly pay rate for each airplane. Yes, as a professional pilot in a lot of cases you get paid by the hour. And, if you read the previous statement carefully, you may have come to realize that the more a plane weighs, the more it pays. It is for this reason you’ll likely be in the smallest airplane of the fleet as a new hire. The pilots who’ve been around, or, the pilots with seniority, are flying something bigger because the pay is “bigger”. So, you are now a B737 first officer. How do gain seniority? You gain seniority by moving up in your seat when pilots above you (senior to you) on the list for your airplane move up to a larger airplane or perhaps a captains seat. Remember that, it’s the pilots above you leaving that make a difference in your seniority. Gaining a number of pilots below on the seniority list is a good thing in that it is a form of job protection. If there is a furlough (airline talk for layoff), the pilots on the bottom of the seniority list (the newest hires) will be laid off first. As I said, that’s nice, but it’s your UPWARD MOVEMENT on the list that really counts. Here is a short list of other career progression, and, what we call quality of life issues, that are dependant upon you seniority number. First, where you will fly out of, your domicile. Second, your daily and monthly schedule. Third, your vacation schedule. And, last but not least, your pay. As a member of a union, you bid (wish for) these things either monthly, quarterly or annually. What you actually get is based on your seniority number. If you’re near the bottom of the seniority list you’ll get the leftovers. In other words, you’ll be flying an airplane no one else wanted, from an airport no one else wanted to fly out of, on weekends and holidays, and fugetabout a summer or holiday vacation. You won’t get it nor will you have any money to spend anyway! Seniority in your seat is the only thing that will change those kinds of events. Still want to be an airline pilot? If so, read on to find out how get real seniority.

By now you know and understand how and where your seniority number comes from. So, what to do about it? Get hired young (meaning 25 or less) or at the beginning of a hiring cycle, or both. Remember my discussion about great Captains, specifically, Choo-Choo Charlie? He was fortunate to have both. More on that in a second. Some thoughts on how each learn to fly path can effect your career. If you go the military path, you may get hired early in a hiring cycle, but due to the 10 year commitment, you won’t get hired young. You also won’t be broke, because, as a 10 year Captain or O-3 equivalent, you get paid well with benefits. If you go the civilian path, you could get hired young and at the beginning of a hire cycle. The odds, however, are not in your favor. You’ll need to stay focused on getting flying time and licenses while figuring out how to pay for it all, plus living expenses. And, in case you live in a cave and aren’t aware, the recent, ridiculous increase in fuel costs is having an impact on any and all flying operations. Going the civilian path will cost you! I have to put in a plug for a flying school right here, right now. ATP Flight School, check it out. On their web page and brochures it states “Seniority is Everything, Get there first with ATP”. This tells me that they get, they understand the effects of seniority on your career. If you are going the civilian path, you’ll want to choose carefully how to spend your money to build flying time. Look around for aviation schools with signs that they understand seniority and can get you where you want to go efficiently. You have no control over when a major hiring cycle will occur,  but you can control whether or not you are prepared to get hired. Back to my earlier reference about a great Captain. If you are lucky enough to get hired young and at the beginning of a major hiring cycle, like Choo-Choo Charlie, don’t lose the big picture. I’m sure you’ll have worked hard to be hireable, but some luck will certainly be involved. As you’re enjoying a career with real seniority, flying as a Captain most of your career with weekends and holidays off, don’t forget the luck part. Stories about #$%&*!!!! Captains (insert your favorite word) frequently reveal the fact that this person was hired at the beginning of a hiring cycle, young to boot, has basically had a great deal for a career and totally lost the big picture. Completely forgotten about his/her good fortune and that the majority of the rest of us haven’t had the same good fortune career wise. Not Choo-Choo Charlie. He had the good luck (and hard work) but you would never know it. He remains professional about the job of flying, managing a crew and keeps it fun. I’ve never heard anything but positive comments. So, good luck, but don’t lose the big picture.

Next week, FAR’s, AIM and your career.