Maybe someone else can weigh in on this, but what you're saying makes no sense. I've been doing this for 20+ years, multiple airlines, types, and instructor ratings. And I've never heard of this?
In the past the competitive mins were so high that there was never an issue with actually meeting regulatory mins for an ATP, in fact you had to have an unrestricted ATP in hand to even apply.
The FAA already grants extra credit for mil aviators: the 750 hour requirement is the lowest time anyone can have and still get an R-ATP.
Here are UAL's published mins, right off their website this morning:
Flight time:
- Require a minimum of 1,500 hours of total time
- Prefer 1,000 hours of fixed wing turbine time
- Prefer a minimum of 100 hours of flight time within the last 12 months
You may be misunderstanding what's happening. It's possible that UAL for example is hiring mil folks with less than 1500 hours logged hours, by giving them a mil conversion credit to meet UAL's published mins.
THEN they can credit some sim time towards the 1500 hours to get them over the hard regulatory line for an unrestricted ATP.
ALSO possible that they hire them based on mil conversion to get to 1500, and then if they don't get to 1500 actual hours in the sim, just give them a *restricted* ATP, which only requires 750 logged hours for mil. Then after they do some line flying they can convert the R-ATP to a full ATP via paperwork drill.
I would simply contact a recruiter at one or more majors and seek clarification.
I would NOT bother asking a FSDO because ...
1) They are often local yokel characters who don't understand all the nuances of the regs. FSDO's don't do airlines, there are separate CMO's for airlines.
2) More importantly anything they tell you is NOT binding on the FAA. If they are wrong and you hang your hat on it, it's YOUR problem.
What you can also do is write a letter to the FAA legal office and ask for clarification. They actually respond to those, reasonably quickly, and the responses are in a public database and often serve as "case law" for future precedent. I would ask two separate questions:
a) Can logged mil time be "pumped up" with a mil conversion factor by an airline and CMO for purposes of meeting aeronautical experience requirements for an ATP?
b) Can an individual do the same?
I'm pretty sure the answer is no to both, for two reasons:
1. I'm pretty familiar with the regs, including all things military. There's nothing that says you can do that. Flight time (actually "Pilot Time") is clearly defined in part 61.
2. Different airlines use different conversion factors. Why would the FAA allow variable standards across the industry? They wouldn't.