Originally Posted by Excargodog

Most majors have just gone to great lengths to simplify their fleets and even so, their training departments are struggling to keep up. It’s the domino effect:

Those who retire are generally those with the highest seniority who have gravitated into the equipment that pays the best.this was a huge issue in COVID when they gave out early retirements and they are still paying for it. So you retire an A350 widebody CA. A younger A330 widebody CA bids for that slot. So you have to train him/her. But that leaves an A330 slot open. So some young A320 pilot CA on that. Now he’s gotta be replaced. Every level you add to that is one more type rating and/or upgrade event. Sticking a 175 into the mix just makes it that much worse. And unlike at a regional where everybody getting their initial type is on first year regional pay, most of the ‘domino trainees will be making serious pay based on current longevity and previous aircraft during training.

But it’s not JUST the training events. Add three years of working as a 175 FO to the mix, and everybody goes up three years in seniority and in pay the first 12 years they will be working at the major. That winds up being a huge extra expense for the company. The company won’t buy that and even if they would, the pilots OVER 12 years seniority won’t buy it because they know it’s a zero sum game and paying 175 guys more means they are going to get less.