I think it's a great idea if there's a business case for it. I love the outside of the box thinking if it is true. Just like selling empty seats, even though that got shut down. What is the increased cost of adding another body to the seniority list? Interviewing, training, payroll, and then benefits once that new hire is transitioned to ELS / Cola 0. If the company is confident enough to hire, with only enough demand that hundreds are getting 0 credit hours, then I say have at it. Why not hire 10k extra pilots and Cola 0 them all? That makes no sense so there's got to be a good reason for spending the money.

By paying new hires in training, our currently furloughed pilots aren't losing anything they haven't already lost. We get paid training here at F9. That should not change. I understand the issue of getting zero hours while a junior pilot is getting 75, but there's work for the junior pilot and there isn't work available for the Cola 0 pilot. New hires are good. New airframes are good. Having a company willing to innovate is good. And I'd be learning to pilot a pallet jack before I'd sit on the virtual curb shaking my cup for some open time.