Good that we're continuing to hire, sure: management is voting to continue to invest in the company, we can hopefully get some well-qualified guys that are available now (separating military, Midwest, AStar, Aloha, USA3000, United, experienced RJ Captains, etc.), and in a seniority based system, hiring is good for all of us already onboard.

However, the internal rec thing is NOT so good. Instead of current line pilots helping to influence who goes in front of the interview board (and ultimately who we all fly with, who ends up being a future Captain here, and who has my family's safety in their hands when they use our pathetic non-rev benefits), flight ops management and HR are making these decisions without our input now. We are not vetting our own now, potentially. That is NOT better.

No offense to the many great candidates who don't happen to know someone already here. Knowing someone doesn't make you a great pilot, but knowing someone and them choosing not to recommend you helps to ensure that only the best candidates get the chance to become Spirit pilots, and, sadly, this system keeps many great candidates on the outside looking in. I'd prefer a system where HR did the initial screening, placed pilots into an applicant pool, and then used recommendations to determine who gets the interviews, which would prevent less-qualified candidates from getting interviews simply b/c they know someone, but still allow an internal recommendation to help determine who ultimately ends up flying for us.