I've flown with good interns and bad.

The biggest beef most guys have with interns is the fact that they didn't pay their dues.

I don't care who you are….at 23 years old you have no business in a United cockpit. You simply don't have the experience to be useful.

The pool of applicants is overflowing with highly experienced aviators. There is no reason to be scooping up children with minimal flight time.

(For you 2000 interns, I'm obviously not talking about you!)

I was never a fan of the program. It was pretty much a vehicle for rich, entitled kids (who could afford to take a semester off without pay) to take a short cut to a job. For every kid they hired, they left a 30+ year old (high time) pilot on the street.

I've met a few interns that have gotten jobs in the training center. Instead of going out and actually flying airplanes, they are continuing to schmooz people in the building with hopes of finding that "short cut" to a job.

That's the LAST guy I would hire.

Like I said…I'm not talking about ALL interns. Many did go out and get some serious experience before they were hired.