It's worth mentioning that Alaska has a habit of keeping QX people in their pool way longer than outside applicants (with all the loss of seniority that entails), especially if QX happens to be short staffed for whatever reason.

During the QX meltdown last year, I believe we had people sitting in the pool for something like 11 months because Horizon couldn't afford to lose any more pilots, and although Alaska did cut that time down significantly, there's zero guarantee they won't pull the same stunt the next time QX can't staff flying.