bgmann, i think that the "walk in" wasn't for ACC, but probably for said major that you're interviewing with, congrats on that one. I'm sure there would/will be tons of people "jealous" of a guy with 500 TT and a hundred and change of multi getting an interview with ANY major airline, which would make them wonder why they have 1000 hrs of turbine PIC and still can't get a call back.

There are lots of ways to gain experience, instructing is brought up so often because it's the path that many individuals took. There is some valuable experience in flight instruction, even in the VFR pattern, as we all know, one of the areas that the majoirty of new hires struggle in are visual approaches, and many don't seem to have it all "worked" out even after IOE, so guess who'll be instructing these new hires on the visual that was awarded to them while at 10k feet going away from the airport....

As an airline captain you'll be doing some flight instructing again, and there's a good reason that having been a flight instructor does help one be a more competent airline captain.