Hey guys,
I wanted to know if seniority is with the airline you work with or the amount of hours. For example say someone is a captain at a major airline, and decides that for family it is best that they change companies. Would he be able to find a similar position with similar bidding privileges (such as picking better routes) or would he be basically starting over?
Like say Adam decides to come back to mainland and lands a job with delta.
Thanks.
James,
Great question. If say Adam, being a Capt with a Major airline with over 10 thousand hours decides that I miss de-icing, major summer storms, delays and all the other joys of mainland flying get hired by Delta, and you hit the aviation lottery and Delta decides to hire you, the day before, fresh from building your 1500hrs instructing, YOU would be senior to him AND you’d both be brandy new FOs on the most junior airplane making first year pay.
Seniority has ZERO to do with experience, hours, type ratings or anything other than your date of hire. You leave the airline you’re with you start again at the bottom which is why that rarely if ever happens voluntarily.
Adam
So in other words, when u jump ship to work for a major, make sure it’s one you will be okay with for the rest of your life? 
Or figure out its not where you want to be very early on.
Adam
It is extremely rare for a pilot to leave one major airline for another, it almost never happens.
Chris
Rare but not extremely rare by any means. A pilot might leave American to go to FedEx, or leave JetBlue to go to Delta and etc. Then you might have a pilot that gets hired by an LCC with the intention of it being a stepping stone to a legacy carrier, but ends up staying for other various reasons.