Its no more "ironic" than DL passing on a mil applicant that AA then takes. Even one that flies government "VIP's". Big deal though. Seriously. This is such a non event. Plenty of pilots get turned down by one DCI (or UEX, etc) carrier only to get hired by another. Is that also "ironic"?

The ridiculous implication is that DL somehow finds them blatantly unsafe to fly DL pax, but there they are flying DL pax. That is such a stupid way to look at it. There are tons of foreign code shares out there and I'm sure whatever amount of applicants some day apply to DL, the success rate isn't 100%. Nothing is outside a direct flow (and even then…)

The DL interview isn't just about who has the basic stick and rudder competency to fly aircraft for DL. Every candidate they interview and ever have and ever will is "qualified" legally but so what. Its about the unique corporate culture and attitude as much as anything else, and making sure the applicant will be the best fit (to the extent possible in any interview system). Some good ones miss out, and some questionable ones may slip in from time to time, but its a pretty good system.

People getting wrapped around the spray deflector thinking this is some burning indictment of hypocracy waiting to turn into some supreme irony mega lawsuit supernova of validating righteousness are going to be severely dissapointed.