Ah yes, the "who they knew" or "what HR box they checked" argument - both are real in the small scale anecdotes, but the return to the mean, which is still the VAST majority of pilots hired, do not comport with the outlier anecdotes. I get to see the inputs (applications) and short term results (calls for interview or not) of an awful lot of candidates. My experience is that while there are outliers in highly qualified that get overlooked by one major or another, my (limited) experience is that they still get get called for interviews at other majors. I also see the occasional marginally qualified pilot get called for an interview at one major, but that's about it. The vast majority that get calls, get calls at multiple majors or not at all, and it correlates HIGHLY with their efforts to play the HR game, which I agree, is 100% a game, but it's how you get non-pilots to sort through applications and make invites for people that do something they don't really understand (fly airplanes). The sidestory on 9E and the SSP and DGI has also been a tragedy of errors: The company (9E), the union really hurt those early interviews with rosy (unrealistic) expectations of what was going to happen. One day interview, no pysch eval, no problem! Just a handshake and introduction really. The reality was that it was the same, structured gauntlet that had always been in place as day 1 of the interview, so the message given to pilots really sent them into a situation that many were not prepared to navigate. Add that some did not cover themselves in glory (fail to show for interview, arrive without a suit, act semi indignant about the prospect of moving from left seat to right seat if they moved to DAL), and you put a target on the backs of those that followed. It was a recipe for disaster, and many would agree that it was a disaster.

While on the subject of games, lets talk game of large and small thrones. One of the lesser known kingdoms within each of the majors is this little place called pilot recruitment. Here, HR professionals tell the story to their management that they are finding the "most qualified pilots to enhance and protect our brand (DAL, UAL, AAL, UPS, FedEx, etc)." Their ability to protect the brand affects their own pay and the influence of their kingdom. A flow, from anywhere, is an affront to them for a couple of reasons: 1) If DAL (or pick your major) can get 10% of its new pilots from flow X, couldn't we save 10% of our pilot recruitment budget? And if yes to 10%, why not more? What prince or princess wants to see their kingdom reduced in such a way? The result is that they will employ a variety of reasons, both explicit, and implicit to avoid diminishing their kingdom. 2) A flow is an indictment and threat to the process they've invested themselves in. It's a personal investment that they feel attached to, and are not interested in seeing changed.

Whether any of these things are the way they ought to be is different than what they are, and sometimes the failure to respond to the reality is on the pilots. I think the process could definitely be better at DAL, but I can wish in one hand and crap in the other and see which gets filled first.