So the airlines are somewhat unique in that everything revolves around the concept of seniority. This number refers to your position on the list of pilots (or flight attendants) at your airline and basically determines your quality of life. You might find this to some degree at many other jobs, but this is everything in the airlines. The longer you've been at a particular company, the more seniority you have. This affects your travel benefits, your ability to build a schedule that truly works for you, and much more. Let's get into it.
Seniority Number
When you start working for an airline, you are added to a list of all of the pilots at the company and assigned a number. The same goes for flight attendants. This is your seniority number, and it changes based on staff movement at the company (you'll get an employee number too, but that won't change). So, as a new hire at a regional, you might start out being number 4000 on the list and wind up being closer to 2000 a few years later. If you're at a huge company, you might start out at 15000. The more people above you that leave the company, the better it is for you. Depending on the nature of the industry, you might skyrocket in seniority very quickly or stay at the bottom for an extended period of time. This is also true if there's also a large influx of people being hired into the company; anyone that gets hired after you or starts class after you will come in below you on the list.
You'll have a seniority number not only for the whole company, but also for the crew domicile/base at which you're assigned. The number at the domicile will be considerably smaller because that particular list is only for that domicile. For example, let's say your company has 5000 pilots. Let's also say your assigned base is Charlotte, and let's say there's 500 pilots there. Your seniority number might be 2000 for the whole company, but your domicile seniority number might be 50. What that would mean is that for the whole company, you are senior to 3000 pilots. For the crew domicile, you are senior to 450 pilots. You might also hear the domicile seniority number expressed as a percentage when talking about schedule building. In this case, your bidding seniority percentage would be 10% (50 divided by 500). This is an excellent bidding percentage because you're going to be the 50th person out of 500 to be assigned your schedule (or line as we call it). You will have a great chance at getting the schedule you want for each month. When you start out at a company, you're going to be at the very bottom. That's when you get assigned reserve duty and don't have nearly as much control over your schedule, if any.
I myself am bidding at about 30% where I am now which is decent; it allows me to build my schedule the way that I want for the most part. I recently learned that the weight of these percentages changes based on how many people are at each domicile. For example, where I used to be based, I was bidding at about 34% at one of our biggest crew bases with hundreds of pilots. This was awesome because I got the schedule I wanted and all of the time off I requested. At my new base, I'm still bidding at about 30% which seems good on paper, but isn't nearly as good as where I used to be. This is because it is a significantly smaller base with probably less than 40 first officers. So even though I am halfway up the list, there are far fewer trips to pick from when I build my schedule which means that many of the good options get assigned to first officers that are more senior to me.
Pilot Movement
At some point when you are working for a company, you might consider switching domiciles. I recently did this when I moved to North Carolina; I swapped from the base I had been assigned to since my hire date into a new base because it offered a more favorable commute. When we talk about base swapping, we have to look at both the seniority number you'll have at the new domicile and the company seniority number. You could have amazing seniority at a super junior base, but if you want to switch to a more senior base, you might find yourself back at the bottom of the list. The reason for this is that your seniority for the whole company comes back into play. When a base is considered senior, it means that people who have been at the company for a long time make up the majority of the people on the list for that particular base. When a base is considered junior, it means that it's the base where all the new hires are sent. Generally speaking, bases that have awesome trips or bases that are located in great places to live run a bit more senior.
Before I made the swap, I wanted to make sure that when I switched bases, I would not lose my ability to build a decent schedule. When you swap into a new base, you first take a look at where you'll wind up if you were to make the switch. At my company, we have a tool that will show you this position. You also have to take into consideration your position; the list is usually different depending on whether you're a captain, first officer, or flight attendant. All these factors come together to create what your place on your new domicile's seniority list will be. If everyone at the base you'd like to go to was hired before you, you'll be at the bottom of the list. Even if everyone at your current base is junior to you. This can work in your favor though because if you've been at a company for a long time and want to switch to a new base, the odds that you'll retain good seniority at the new base are pretty good.
Other Bits Of The Pie
Confused yet? Thankfully that is the worst of it. Seniority affects other pieces of your quality of life as well. Your domicile seniority affects your ability to bid for specific days off and your ability to request vacation days. Company seniority affects your travel benefits (although surprisingly enough this isn't the case at all airlines). So as you can see, it's an important concept to grasp! With a little bit of time in the industry, it will start to make sense. It is the reason that it is so important to be strategic about what companies you work for. With a little bit of planning, you can wind up working for the airline at which you will retire within just a few years of reaching the airlines. A friend of mine is in his mid 20s and is already working for the company at which he wants to work for the rest of his career. If he flies all the way until he gets to 65 (mandatory retirement age), he will have close to 40 years of seniority. He will be at the top of the pay scale, choose whatever trips he wants, and be able to bid for specific days off very easily. As you can see, it pays to be strategic!
Notes
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