Step one to see if you are the right kind of person to work there: How much hassle can you tolerate in order to finish the application?
It sort of reminds me of mesa's interview fee- yet another level of screening, intentional or not.
Don't get me wrong... I finished my application this morning after only 4 or so tries. All of my problems were with the little HR bit at the end. If the IT department at the mainline is anything like the one for our wholly-owned carrier, this is business as usual.
Our company president put out a letter today that sounded pretty fishy, almost implying that though there will be preference for the wholly owned pilots, they may be coordinating a release as to not have a huge exodus. He didn't say that directly, but he sort of left the door open. To me it sounds more like a penalty than a preference!