Originally Posted by Flying Ninja

The corporate America I work for could care less about your volunteerism. They only care that you produce for them. And they're happy to pay sick 6-figure salaries.

The airline's standards for hire has always been psychotic with no real basis in reality. If they need pilots, standards drop. If they don't, standards skyrocket. It works on supply and demand. When they feel the squeeze, as they are now, they hire anyone with certificates and a pulse. There are pilots I know at regional airlines who have no business flying a C152 far less a jet...but they're there...doing that job.