my 3 closest friends at UAL, DAL and AA, all three don't live at their base... one has a two leg commute east coast.

West Coast on the 330 to HNL is the easiest commute i've ever done... period.

The only problem we have at HAL now (and it affects locals as well) is our schedule sucks, and our lack of meaningful trip rig means we waste a lot of time "at work" not getting paid.. We need to fix that big time in Contract 2015

you state that like they're trying to keep it a secret... on the contrary they brag about it.

I didn't get the interview until I got my LOR in 2012, I'd been applying for 4 years before without so much as a peep... After the LOR, I was interviewed, and in class inside of one month.

My belief is they opened the window, and are interviewing, as a dry run to see how well this new format works when hiring really ramps up for the NEO's..

I mean.. Why do all this application, interviewing, REC letters etc etc.... For 14 new hires... 4 of which were picked from the last window 2 years ago...

IMO, the hiring system previously in place was awful compared to just about every airline in the country.. Including regionals.... It was a huge black eye for an otherwise pleasant workplace.....( and very easy job compared to multi leg east coast winter flying) out of 40 interviews a week they took maybe 2 or 3 from each group ( maybe more?) it needed a change, and this was a laid back situation to test it out...

I believe also they had a few guys already in mind to interview.. Maybe not all, but definitely a majority.... This window was purely a "get everyone's hopes up" but a very very select few will have a chance....

2 years from now is when to really be hopeful for...

Regardless of their shenanigans...this crap needs to stop. Pilots need to stop accepting this kind of treatment right now.

Sorry dude, but you have the rose colored glasses on.
Isn't it obvious what happened? They need only 18 pilots, and they still have a large pool from the last window already interviewed. They could pick from the ones they already interviewed (like everyone else does) or they could open a new window and start over again. So what do they do, they pick 4 from the groups that interviewed two years ago, so that shows they have no problem picking someone from two years ago. Why not pick the other 14 from the same group? Because they are looking to get some with local connections that are not in the pool from the last window.
You think that there is a "new"process, that is laughable. Look what happened. They open the window, then someone realizes they didn't give an option for zero PIC time on one of the questions. ( didn't anyone think they should proof read the app Qs) So they send out emails to the people that filled out the app on the first day and ask for up dates. Then the next day they send emails out saying, " in case you didn't realize it, you are no longer in the running from the window 2 years ago." ( and they send the same letter to a bunch of pilots that already work there. LOL) Why did they send the emails after the window opened? because they had to keep the old app window open until they pulled the select few and someone forgot to close it.
or maybe some called in and said, hey I interviewed last window do I have to reapply?
Face it, the process has not changed much, same incompetent people running the show. Only thing that really changed.... they have gone back to the old Hawaii way....you have to have the hook-up to get in.
So maybe the pilots did succeed at getting HR out of the loop.
Time will tell if I'm right. Look at who gets offered those 14 slots. I bet they all have local connections.

The hiring at HAL is embarrassing.. we're a good enough airline, with a long and storied history and should be able to attract the best and brightest pilots the industry has to offer.. Unlike many other carriers, we have been hiring into international widebody flying... we've got some of the best (And most demanding) routes in the world, flying the Western Pacific is serious business, and you WANT very experience pilots who've been there and done that sitting as IRO's and FO's on those trips, not kids with no time outside of Hawaii or at some West Coast fair weather "regional' dropping gear on a turboprop..

The hiring is VERY anti-military for one, so we lose out on a lot of good military pilots. The only Mil guys who ever get hired are the HI ANG guys. I counted 4 classes in 2012 with some 35 bodies, and only 2 of them were Mil.. contrast that with most major airlines where it's almost 50%.. And it's not that they don't apply. I recall seeing many qualified C17 commanders, F15/16/22 drivers, etc at my phase 1/2 and by the time I got to phase 3 I was shocked to find many with no college degree, and as little as Shorts experience at TransAir with 2000TT..

Where Delta brags about hiring the best, and paying them the most, we brag about hiring local and dipping into the mainland pot ONLY when we've expired every last local who can fog a mirror.

Sad.

Maybe you should work somewhere where they hire the best and brightest

Nothing is going to change unless the pilots demand it. But sad to say, I don't see that happening.
You know, back in the 90s United hired a lot of low time pilots because they were involved in a law suit and tried to show they hired from all groups. The IPs had to give a lot of extra help to get them through training. and when it came time for upgrade, many of this group did not pass. If HAL has some big hiring when the NEOs come, you might find the same problem.

..........

maybe you should drink less Koolaid