I mean really let’s think about it here...

Most pilots are within 18 months to flow by the time they’re competitive to be hired at another legacy or one of the majors or cargo carriers like FedEx and UPS. And even then you’re talking thousands spent on a resume re-write, application review, and interview prep. Plus the cost and time invested in job fairs etc.

And if your airline of choice is American then why wouldn’t you stay? Not to mention if you’re within 12 months a lot of guys look at the fact that they’ll get the 401K match first year if they flow compared to going somewhere else and not having that. Not to mention years of service for lifetime travel etc.

The real battle at the WOs is convincing junior Captains and senior FOs from leaving to LCCs like Frontier and Spirit and airlines like JetBlue and to some extent some of the ACMIs. Right now there really isn’t much incentive to stay so turnover is high in that segment of the pilot group and the WOs are spending a small fortune in training costs