This has been an educational thread for me, too (I'm new on the site - close to the end of my commitment in the AF, application in for VSP, trying to decide what I should do). Here are a few more questions:

- Is there any disadvantage to putting in lots of applications? i.e. do any of the airlines check, or care, if you have apps in with their competition?

- Along the same lines, crewdawg's advice to put in a bunch of applications for the interview practice sounds like a great idea. But does it look bad on you if you get job offers and turn them down? Is there any sort of "black list" out there?

- Finally, does anybody have any insight on whether the "mininums" are really the minimums? If you have 1001 PIC hours, do you really have a shot at getting hired by a major?