I had a chance to talk to CV (director of hiring) the other day and I asked him what the average interviewee had timewise & recommendations. He said that there was all kind of ranges from 2500 hours to over 13,000 hours. He did say the "average" was about 7000-8000 hrs with a recommendation (internal recs worth more). He said he did read every recommendation, but that it didn't really matter who it was (he didn't look up his work history, if internal)

Here is some other tidbits he said:

-They expect FAR 117 to add about 10% to staffing
-You need to update your application at least every 180 days, or you will be flushed out of the active list
-The recommended amount to update your flight time on your application is once a month, but at least every 180 days
-You need to keep your first class medical current (doesn't differentiate for under or over 40) or you will be flushed out of active applications
-You need to have a FCC radio license or will be flushed out
-There is no notification to the applicant if you are flushed out of the active list, but when you clean up your app you will automatically go back into the active list
-There is a formula with points allocated for different items on the application for who actually gets the interview, so that is why the big range in flight time, it's only one part of it
-They are happy with the psychological test and the resulting applicants who pass (test developed for UAL specifically)
-Currently 10,500 apps on file with apps from US Air, Southwest and American pilots

That's it, I hope that helps anyone trying to get on. Good luck.