Originally Posted by FriendlyPilot

We had a recession last year in 2022. The 1st and 2nd quarters were negative GDP growth. United hired like crazy. Travel is booming and even though the overall economy might contract, United is replacing 400 RJs with mainline planes and we need to hire for years still. Pilots being hired today will have 10,000 pilots junior to them in 4 years. This doesn’t even include the 100-200 787s on order, of which only about 40 are to replace 767s.

If any pilots leave for a LCC they should be automatically ineligible for rehire. A friend left United for FedEx and called last week to see if I though United would rehire him, even though he has given up 4,000 seniority numbers in the 18 months or so since he left.