I highly doubt every single new hire had a letter of rec. I'm sure they start with people that meet the requirements and then sort from there. Don't get me wrong, having a rec. helps but it's not required. Keep updating your Airline App., things don't happen over night, especially in the airline industry.

As for future classes, I'm guessing they will continue but not until after December as posted previously by someone else. The merger is official today, which may change the situation a little. Hiring will be for both former XJT and Atlantic Southeast so I'm not sure if you'll be based in ATL or IAD on the CRJ, you could end up on the XJT side of things. Whatever the case, good luck and don't give up.