Early pilots were awarded 6000 stock options, vesting over a 5 year period. The stock price never rose high enough to get anywhere close to being worth 7 figures, even accounting for splits. Also, the highest ever stock price occurred before all the options were vested. At best, the options were worth about $500,000, before AMT.

Only pre-IPO pilot hires made any money, as later pilots' strike prices were out of the money for nearly the entire 10 years that the options were valid. Pilots hired after 2006 (?) didn't receive stock options at all.