Back in '05, when CAL started hiring off the street again, most of the initial new-hire classes were filled with the kids, and their friends, of the flight ops management team. After that it was the former interns. So the first 6 months most new-hires were lower time and 0 TPIC. By late '06 to early '07 those folks were getting 737 Captain awards, while some held off, many upgraded. Those pilots that did upgrade were just fine with a few exceptions. Age 65, oil spike, etc knocked them out of those seats but most of them made it back, some even to the 757/767, and some of those had never done an Atlantic crossing until they sat in the left seat of the 757/767. It's all about the training. If you can make it through all of the hoops then good on ya. And yes, folks don't make it at Mesa that try and upgrade, I believe 2 of the Captain upgrades paired up with my wife's Ejet class didn't make the cut.