Originally Posted by
Duesenflieger
Let us be pragmatic, shall we not? As soon as there are not enough people willing to upgrade, the junior manning will begin in earnest. We might see advertisement for street captains by then, but if it came down to it, they will bend every company rule up to the letter of the law itself (the FAA) if it should ever affect the bottom dollar that we could make - whether it be ethical or not.
Unless they're really dumb, they will not force upgrade the junior-most pilot with the minimum FAR experience... that would frankly be a VERY bad idea. They will have to set a bar, something like three years on property / 2000 hours 121 time.
Some folks who bypass upgrade do it for QOL, other know they are not ready, and a few will never be ready. Risky business.
You'd also have to reinstate "up or out", to motivate the draftees to succeed in training.
It will be ugly when it comes.