Guys,
As a current DAL pilot who was around for the Comair strike, 9-11, furloughs etc, here is my 2 cents.
I along with most DAL do not hate anyone at Comair. I don't think I even know anyone at Comair. Yes, I am familiar with the "Letter" and have even posted it on this website when the topic came up. Not a high point for pilot solidarity, but not the end of the world also. I am not on the hiring committee but if I was I would take everything into account and would still hire Comair guys if I felt good about them. I do admit if it was a tie between a Comair guy and a ASA guy – the ASA guy would get the tie-breaker.
I also admit I would take the letter and the poor treatment of DAL pilots (from my perspective) into account and for guys at Comair pre 2001 it would be a negative, but not a deal breaker. For any Comair pilot hired after 2004 it would not even be an issue. I do admit I would have a hard time with any Comair MEC guys from that time frame - but people are individuals and I would like to think I would give everybody the benefit of the doubt. That being said, I am not a saint and can not say for 100% how I would handle every situation.
As far as why the Comair guys never had a flow through I was told the DAL MEC offered to bring them over to our list around 2000 to 2001 but the Comair guys wanted DOH which was a deal breaker. If that is indeed true, in hindsight it appears to have been a colossal blunder.
Finally, DAL has indeed hired Comair guys – so if you want to work at DAL update your application!
Just my 2 cents - Scoop