I love how I give an example of a regional captain that has over 10k hours and you act like he should be OK that he hasn't been called 'right away' even though he's been more than qualified for years to go to places like DAL, United, FedEx, etc. There's quite a few guys at my company with 8000-10,000+ hours that have been waiting quite some time for the call. Meanwhile, we are looking at the fact that we probably won't have aircraft to fly in the not too distant future as 50 seats get parked. I can't say I blame these guys for exploring their options at NAI at this point. This isn't their first choice, but many have had apps in at the majors for years, and feel that they may never get the call.

Then there is the other cohort of pilots with shiny jet syndrome. There's one regional that pays significantly less than every other company, in some cases less than half, yet this company is still managing to hire and fill (I use that word loosely, because none of the regionals are really 'filling' classes anymore) classes just because United keeps sending them shiny new 175s. To these guys, going to NAI is going to be a logical step up from their current company.