Scambo, I gotta disagree with you on this one. Have you seen the hiring standards in recent years at some of these DCI carriers?? And when you factor in the massive devaluation of this profession that has taken place over the past decade, common sense and the basics of economics dictates that the people getting into this profession now (not all of them, but probably most) are not of the same caliber as what we have traditionally seen.

Also, I'm guessing from your avatar that you came from the military and have not flown for a regional carrier. Well, I did fly for one back in the day... and here's my personal experience with it. What I found was that the vast majority were really sharp, mostly young guys that were just building their time and paying their dues until they could get hired by a major airline. Back then, the career was worth about TWICE what it is now... so there was no shortage in supply of sharp people getting into this profession. However, there were that 10% or so who, shall we say, had reached "the pinnacle of their career." They either had some kind of problem with their record, or no college degree, or they just didn't fit the profile of an airline pilot (i.e. they weren't the sharpest tools in the shed). But what I found flying with them was that they generally had to be watched very closely and could get into trouble pretty easily. Some of the things I saw were truly appalling, and I would absolutely not want my family on an airplane with those guys as Captain.

Now, fast forward to today. Most of the guys currently flying for DCI have been in the industry for many years and are just stuck there right now. I've flown with many of the ones we've hired from DCI in the past several years and they are OUTSTANDING pilots who are most definitely qualified to fly for Delta.

But what about that 10%? Or maybe with the value of the career and the amount of hiring done by the regionals in the past few years, it's 20%? Would you want your family sitting in the back of a jet with one of the weak Captains like I described above and an F/O that has less than 500 hours of total flight time with the ink still barely dry on his commercial/multi? (And don't forget, there's a good chance this 500 hour F/O is not that sharp of an individual to start with.)

Still think they're all qualified to be flying Delta passengers and should just be integrated onto our seniority list?