If I remember the Bloch award right, the totals are based on a certain number of captains per airplane. The quotas will be reduced as planes are parked. And lucky for the Colgan pilots, the Pinnacle numbers were artificially low. There will always be a handful of left seat spots available for the old Colgan pilots.

This is going to stir the pot a bit, but I feel a need to point out the irony. In the months since the Bloch award was published, I have not heard many Colgan pilots complain about the quotas. Rarely did I read how it was unfair that Colgan pilots were upgrading before the more senior pilots from Pinnacle and Mesaba. We got to hear a lot about how the Q400s were the future of the airline though. Now the tables are turned and suddenly the complaining starts. Is it unfair, of course it is. But it was also unfair for the last 9 months. This industry sucks, that's all there is to it.