No doubt.

The conspiracy part is the ridiculous theory that somehow a trillion dollar lawsuit is looming because mainline doesn't hire a connection pilot and later something happens with that connection pilot and that is supposedly proof of known unsafe pilots being allowed to continue.

It sounds so incredibly dumb when you say it out loud, but some like to fantasize about that happening. But like I said before, unless an airline is dumb enough to stamp UNSAFE in big red block letters across an applicant's file and save it for future litigious posterity, that's a rediculous concept to even attempt to prove. Especially when there isn't even a sim ride, not that it would matter much even if there was.

There is also the cries to the high heavens about cosmic hypocrisy and about not being good enough to fly brand X's passengers even though that's the passengers they are currently flying. But it goes so much deeper than that. Yes a connection pilot flies brand X passengers. So do the international code share partners. Big deal. An airline wants to know that you are a good fit for their particular culture, training program, mentality and pilot group. Brand X doesn't care if a connection pilot abuses sick time, other than the virtual airline's block hour costs in their unrealistically low RFP bid, and they don't really care about that anyway. But brand X does care about the connection pilot's sick time use when considering them for a position at brand X. Brand X doesn't care if a connection pilot is a tool on a 4 day trip because they don't have to fly with them. But they do care when considering that pilot for the mainline.

The whole arguement is a stupid straw man intellectual red herring yet some continue to cling to it as proof of the ultimate injustices and hypocrisy in the industry when its nothing more than any other job interview. Is every brand X interview somewhat arbitrary? Of course. So is every connection interview, and every interview for any job. To some degree they are all Ms. America world peace softballs and baton whirling talent shows, but so what. Don't h8 the playa. Some brand Y pilots get hired at brand X and some don't. Some X connection pilots didn't get hired at Y connection, and some of those end up getting hired at X and not at Y.

So what. Move along, nothing to see here.