That's why they've got captains flying right seat in the Q, and they're offering a $5,000 bonus for new hires, right?

Turning away people at an interview is not the same thing as "not struggling for new hires." Perhaps the crew planning department and the HR/CP's office haven't gotten their heads together on modifying the interview process. Who knows. I know at QX the interview is points based. If you don't score high enough, you're not getting the offer no matter how short-staffed the company may be. Counter-productive? Maybe. The point is, correlating interview failures to staffing numbers isn't going to be accurate.