This might be a question without a clear answer, but I’m looking for some insight.

From what I’ve gathered, recent interview invites have been going out to candidates in my category (non-military, regional 121) after reaching around 500–750 TPIC. At my current job, an upgrade is still months away. I’ve just passed 3,000 total time and have over 1,000 hours of 121 SIC time. I am waiting for a vacancy at this point.

I’ve followed a pretty standard path, but I also volunteer as a new-hire mentor within the company and in my community (both aviation and non-aviation). I have several strong letters of recommendation from former coworkers and directors of places where I’ve volunteered, but none internal.

Friends and colleagues who’ve recently made the move with similar stats all had internal references. I know two recent CJO holders who were offered positions with little or, in one case, zero TPIC. Both told me that their applications were advanced because a close family friend was able to move their application forward and recommend them for the assessment.

I do, however, have a family member with over 35 years of seniority in Inflight. I’ve talked with them about helping me connect, and they’re willing to write a letter of recommendation. However, since they’re a family member and in a different department, I’m concerned it might not carry the same weight as a pilot reference. They’re well-connected within their department and have offered to speak with FA hiring managers to see what they can learn, but I’m not sure how that process works at Delta.

What would you suggest I do? Has anyone used someone outside of Flight Ops to write a reference? If so, did it seem to help strengthen the application?

Of course, experience is key, and a few more years at my current gig will help give me more experience and time for my application, and left seat time is something that I would prefer to have before making to move to a forever job. Regardless, I can’t help wanting the chance to make the step up, and be able work with my family member before they retire.