IMO that is a HUGE red flag that you can't (makes it look like won't) come up with that info.

Late 90's wasn't that long ago. Almost 90% of current legacy pilots were hired during or before that time. It was an airline. You applied. You were hired. You showed up. You suddenly and almost immediately quit. You can bet they want to know about that, and if they find out about it and you didn't tell them about it, that is not a position you want to be in during an interview or even after you are on property at any airline.

I'm still not really sure what you're trying to learn from any of this. Are you looking for validation for potentially not complying with what they are asking? Would it make you feel better if instead they were like "nah dawg, its all good brah, 10 years or whatever you can remember, whatevesves, if you fly now all this is just a formality anyway buddy roe! Yuck yuck yuck!" *back slap*

Good luck with that I guess.

But for now they want it. They expect it. They require it. And that's not likely to change anytime soon.

You keep getting caught up in the why. People have tried to answer that for you, but you don't want to accept it because you don't want to do it. I don't know what more anyone can tell you at this point because you're either going to do it or you're not.

Unless you changed jobs weekly for 20 years, its really not that hard to get the info together anyway. And if you did change jobs every week for 20 years, well, lol nevermind.

They want it on the app. You would be well served to do it if you want the job.