Agreed, unfortunately the climate for jumping to the airlines is taking a nosedive at the moment. If I were in still I’d delay separating or retiring for a year.

Yup.

Longer term, the game is probably still on though.

IOW, "timing" the industry? A bit of a catch-22 ain't it.....

Depends on where you currently sit. If I were staring down the barrel of a 365 non flying deployment to Afghanistan and could retire instead, I’d bail. If I were a young major sitting in a flying squadron with only some flying deployments to worry about, I’d wait. The job market is going to be more competitive as guys who would have been snapped up quickly stack up during the hiring freeze and that backlog has to be worked through. The few companies still hiring get to be pickier and initially so will everyone else when hiring starts again.

If you’ve already pulled the trigger you need to accept the possibility that it may take longer for you than for your buddy who bailed six months ago. It will be a rough introduction to the civilian world for some guys. Don’t bypass that Guard or Reserve gig. You may need it more than it needs you.

Always sound advice, and if you don't heed it Murphy will remind you why you should have.

Some of my JO's who got on with Legacies found the reserves to be cramping their enjoyment of their lifestyle. I told them to stick with the reserves at least until they had some seniority, I can think of one or two who are glad they listened now, and a pregnant wife who agreed reluctantly.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^totally^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^tota lly the best proven strategy/advice ever.
Using Tnkrdrvr advise as well, be prepared. That’s why I still have boxes of MRE’s and cases of water. Not a true hoarder (wife does accuse me of such at times), but never throw something away that is extremely useful in drastic situations. God favors the prepared. Fortunately retirements are increasing as time moves on for quite a long period to outlast this current issue and will stave off some of the pain. Not a good time to jump into rough seas.

2 is 1, 1 is none...

Resurrecting this... Would I be looking at any penalty box time and/or ignored applications with four failed UPT checkrides? That was over ten years ago and have been straight Q-1's ever since, but it still felt just as bad as the day the busts happened putting them down on the app.

On a similar question, which airlines do care? I know Delta does and United does not care about phase checks, what about any others?

Im assuming they are not form 8 checks. Generally, nobody cares. I filled out apps for UPS, FedEx, SWA, United, and I think Delta. I don’t remember any of the applications asking. Talk to whatever interview prep company you are using about the current hiring environment.

Don't sweat them. Put them on the app. Look at it this way; you busted for what? Exceeding your MOA while performing aerobatics? Taking your formation as lead into the wx because of a less-than-stellar decision?...in a turbine a/c, and you most likely had less than 100 hrs total? You're fine. They take that into account and won't ask. If they do, then you're setup for a good how you learned from failure TMAAT. You'll be in the right by fully disclosing everything. Good luck!

Thank you for the advice/positive feedback! All this is pretty true, busted for dumb stuff that helped make a better, safer pilot, and they all certainly have a TMAAT application!