Once a Delta pilot retires , He/She goes behind 80,000 current active Delta employees and their families along with competing for seats with multiple thousands of other Delta retirees and some Delta retirees that get a certain amount of S3A passes. Active Endeavor employees are Wholly Owned , flying Delta owned RJ's , Delta passengers and getting payed by Delta . There are a fraction of Active Endeavor Folks that you are competing with for seats ( 5,000 Endeavor employees at most ) compared to probably 500,000 total Active Delta employees with their families and other Delta retirees that have retired in the last 30 years . 80,000 Delta employees with their kids , spouses, parents etc. all go in front of you. Your chances of not getting on a flight cause of a 9E employee are pretty slim .