Originally Posted by
vonerotate
Compass hiring was done to NWA standards because there was a plan for Compass pilots to eventually move into NWA mainline aircraft.
Not the whole picture.
NWA ALPA set the minimums as part of the BK contract that allowed CPZ formation. Not the same as NWA hiring standards. The thought at the time was by the time they flowed up they would have normal competitive window experience.
Most of the initial cadre of street *Captains* were very highly experienced airline vets that were victims of wrong airline at the wrong time, or seasoned RJ Captains, and would have met the standards for any airline in the world.
OTOH, the minimums for F/O was 1500 TT hrs, 1000 ME, which while being far above what most feeders require,
would not even get you an application at NWA unless you were demographically challenged or ex-Mil. Not sure what the first batch of F/O's was like, but later on they were having trouble getting applicant's with even 1500 hrs and got caught cheating on that standard.
Hardly NWA or DAL
*standards*.