Originally Posted by
bored
The problem is that there were fewer eligible pilots to upgrade from the FO ranks. Plus, I'm sure the company would rather upgrade experienced saab CAs to the 900 than to have a wet behind the ear 1500 hour guy in command of the 900. Not to mention... how do you think all the seat-locked veterans on the saab would view new hires going to 900 CA? It only made sense to release saab seat-locks. This time it seems, the company saw the benefit in extra costs.
They had already upgraded "wet behind the ear" CAs as you call it from the ranks of junior Saab FOs before they started to unlock the Saab CA seats. Before they started to unlock Saab CA seat locks, the most junior DTW CRJ900 CA was a May 2007 newhire Saab FO.
There were plenty of guys below him including myself who came with prior experience with well over 3000 hours and this is with the ATP rating in hand. Plenty of Saab CAs at that time did not want to transition into CRJ900s for scheduling and QOL reasons. Besides in addition to extra training cost incurred, the company created this Saab CA overstaff situation along with it.