We have to look at it holistically from a business standpoint so to speak.

Pilots aren’t the only ones furloughed. We have maintenance staff, ground staff, office staff etc.

Does it make sense to bring pilots back when the company is currently sufficiently staffed and meeting its obligations and pay them to sit reserve? Now they need to factor in cost of sending each person to the sim then most likely have them sit reserve. United has already said there’s no change to their current outlook until the end of Q1 2021.

There is also no guarantee that consumer confidence or air travel will bounce back by March or April and this latest stimulus runs out March end so basically they can bring us back but if things don’t pick up we risk another furlough.

Technically it’s cheaper to keep us pilots furloughed and bring back other people and start gearing up for the eventual return to demand by staffing other areas of operation gradually.

I hope I’m wrong but we aren’t privy to a lot of internal details and workings of how this will fan out from an operational and business standpoint.

Like I mentioned in one of my previous posts, we need a situation whereby the company has staffing issues for flying and HAS to bring us back.

I was miserable about the furlough since September but I’ve accepted it and hope for the best while looking for other opportunities and riding the unemployment pony.