They don't have to. It's not compassion I'm after. They can either deal with it or I'll bail to EDV or Mesa (ouch) and they'll lose a decent FO that WANTS to fly a lot. There is a contractual option for a hardship, it's just whether or not they'll find a way around it. There's also the "it would be unsafe to upgrade me to the CA seat at this time" route. I have heard of at least one guy that did something to that effect and it worked. I'd just be overly concerned that his letter will remain in his file forever and very well may keep him out of a major (maybe not a LCC) for the rest of his life.

I'm not married to Envoy. There are arguably better options out the for me right now. Especially since I live 20 min from IAH.