I was actually thinking about staffing the other day. I completely agree that we are short, and it is apparently getting worse. Even the CrewTrac message said that FOs should expect higher line values. I am not sure how they plan to go higher when my January line was 92 hours block with 10 days off, but I guess that is the plan. With the latest TDY sending FOs out of DTW, it could get really interesting around here if/when we pick up hours for summer.
That said, we still have some time to get a class in. It takes just over 2 months to get people online. This means that an April 1 class would be in OE for June's flying. Considering how many people are on the street, they could announce a class for 2 weeks from now and it would be full. My entire application process was 10 days in 2008. That is from sending in a resume, to being in class.
I certainly hope we hire, but I wouldn't expect anything to start till late March or April. They will just continue to depend on people picking up open time and extending/JAing when needed.