Well, I can only tell you my story about hard minimums. In '85 I was thinking about getting out of the Navy. I had 1600 hours but only 450 of it was C-12 time. AA wanted 500 hours of fixed wing. I was averaging 45-50 hours a month in the C-12 so I went ahead and applied. They didn't have the extensive hours grid they do now.

Sure enough, they called right away and scheduled me for an interview. When I went down to DFW, I told them I only had 450 fixed wing time but would have the rest in two months.

Got the immediate TBNT response AND got my SSN entered in their data base as a rejected hire. Never ever heard from them again.

Moral of the story: Don't bother applying until you have the minimum quals. If they call immediately you're out and it just might be a bridge you burn that you might want later on.