I guess it's a matter of semantics. They are going to have to go through indoc and a full training course and in this sense they'll be new hires. But they won't be on probation, will have a different wage rate than a CAL new hire, and have full medical benefits from day one, none of which reflects a new hire--thankfully!

It seems to raise more complications than they thought of at the time they signed the transition agreement. But that's what happens when you're in a rush. CAL pilots signed contract '02 in a rush and have paid dearly for it ever since. The company got the transition agreement in a rush to please Wall Street to try make everyone feel happy and they're going to have to live with it.

That's their problem, not ours. Just because it's going to cost them more training cycles, here then there, or more money because the UAL pilot has to go through a full course at CAL then go back to UAL to fill a vacancy there, too bad.