Yep. We went thru the Delta Express time... ya'll had TED, and I am betting that those captain positions went fairly junior primarily because of the pay scale (Many called it a 'C' scale at DAL). There were a lot of more senior guys that would say the captains were holding the seat 'out of seniority' which was complete horse****. There was not a single solitary pilot senior to any of those guys that couldn't have held the seat. Not one thing that was 'artificial' about it.

So we have new hire 767 captains here at DAL. Not one single pilot senior to them wanted that seat, so it is very very real. Nothing artificial about it.