You're right, longevity doesn't make a difference because of how the pay scale flattens out. It's all about QOL, and there won't be any for most of us if we were to take the recall.

That is likely why they didn't get all 42 pilots that they wanted last time, and that's likely why they sent out more than twice the number of letters as recalls this time. Anybody who has a somewhat decent paying job is going to stick with it until life at the airline isn't so hellish. I don't mean to sound bitter, but look at how they've been running it into the ground the past few months...