duvie,
good point. I know an instructor who's very intelligent, positive, well-respected, with more than enough to meet the mins, got turned down by most of the regionals. Being that he is all of the above (and this isn't necessarily my own opinion but the general consensus among his 100+ coworkers.. students loved him, instructors loved him, mgmt loved him), the only reason that everyone could come up with as to why he couldn't get hired during 2005's regional hiring boom was that he was Middle Eastern.. even though he obviously had to jump through fire hoops from the govt to be able to get his green card. Who knows. Bottom line is, he kinda had no choice then to apply to less desirable companies. He did get on with Medusa, and as far as I can tell, it's their gain. (Let the terrorist jokes begin..)

As for your food stamp friend.. funny, cuz a friend of mine who flies 340 for Colgan has been kinda bragging that he got $30k his first year as FO. I don't think I believe him though, lol.