And by the Alfa, the folks that complain the most about long periods off line with no intent of returning are training department guys I fly with. They talk about guys they knew back in the MIL that never wanted to fly there either and they've made their way off line and stay there.

Now I've never been in the training department so I'm not sure what it is they're seeing. But that's where the idea comes from and I think it should be applied uniformly to anyone who takes a job that keeps them from regularly flying the line.

Also, although I've never even heard of this here at DAL and figure it's not allowed, but CAL mainline pilots talk about one or more union rep or committee guy who hadn't been line qualified in a decade by choice (not sick) was still in his position. Whether that's true or not I don't know, but it's worth preventing or at the least penalizing and doing so uniformly.