Probe:

"You have proven my point, better than I ever could."

I think the only point proven here is you're a clueless, self centered, egotistic, and classic example of what not to be as a professional pilot.

Oh BTW you proved my point that the AH in the left seat didn't become that way by just moving sideways to the left.

Disregard
filler

I've flown with good interns and bad.

The biggest beef most guys have with interns is the fact that they didn't pay their dues.

I don't care who you are….at 23 years old you have no business in a United cockpit. You simply don't have the experience to be useful.

The pool of applicants is overflowing with highly experienced aviators. There is no reason to be scooping up children with minimal flight time.

(For you 2000 interns, I'm obviously not talking about you!)

I was never a fan of the program. It was pretty much a vehicle for rich, entitled kids (who could afford to take a semester off without pay) to take a short cut to a job. For every kid they hired, they left a 30+ year old (high time) pilot on the street.

I've met a few interns that have gotten jobs in the training center. Instead of going out and actually flying airplanes, they are continuing to schmooz people in the building with hopes of finding that "short cut" to a job.

That's the LAST guy I would hire.

Like I said…I'm not talking about ALL interns. Many did go out and get some serious experience before they were hired.

We did get paid. We got tens of thousands of dollars worth of free training (727 Engineer rating and hundreds of hours of time in the sims) and it was just flat out FUN for any college kid who's working towards an airline job vs. trudging through the classes we got to opt out of.

What kind of idiot passes on three months of (often unsupervised) full motion sim time, free dinners, parties, skiing etc. every weekend with a bunch of airline Captains intent on seeing who can buy the most beer, multiple letters of recommendation, an outstanding adventure with a bunch of great peeps from other universities, and the crown jewel - a preferential interview with POSSIBLE bump to the front of the que? The guy who turns his nose up at THAT would be a MORON with zero SA, and an individual not up the job of jet airliner Captain! I mean good Lord, that's one of dumbest things I've ever heard.

If the current internship does not offer such value then that's too bad, but I suspect it's still a great deal and experience for the kids who are selected. It damn sure pays though and that's why it's legal - value can easily be shown.

Over

ALL interns who got hired cut in line ahead of white, male applicants - period. And at times there were a LOT of people cutting in line ahead of white, male applicants so they had a lot of company doing it. It was the system set up by the airlines, just like there's a system today and there was a system to hire zero time guys in the late 60's and there was a system to hire 22 year old guys at United into the group of 570 in 1985, and... The airlines are always engaging in some stupid BS, it just changes by decade and anybody who tells me they routinely turn their nose up at opportunity is either a liar or fool.

The rich entitled thing is BS too, I was dirt poor and living on ramen noodles and most of my intern pals were as well. But here's a factual statistic for you: Interns tend to go into union work and do other volunteer work, but very few of them go into management. Over the last fifteen years at United there has been one or more interns in senior ALPA leadership at all times. I can't name one intern in pilot management however.

Out

I was a 2001 UAL legacy intern. I financed my whole education myself (have the loans still to prove it)! I was a flight instructor for 2 years, was a freight dog in Chieftains, and flew for a regional for 7 years. I've had Sept 11th, age 65, and the 2008 recession against me. I have 8500 hours, am accident/incident free, no FAA violations, etc, been to a job fair, have over 1500 turbine PIC, and still haven't heard anything.

I am certainly not trying to jump ahead, but it seems frustrating to not get a shot at an interview. What gives?

FMS

While having advantages being an intern also has a risk, they are interviewing you on the job. There's a good chance your "interview" did not go as well as you may have thought.

Regularguy - that certainly has crossed my mind. I have a copy of the evaluation which has the check box marked "recommend for pilot position" checked rather than "do not recommend for pilot position". Of course we all know that there could be another form out there too!

For now, I'm still updating my app regularly and keeping my fingers crossed and my other options open too. From my experience, since the merger, I would venture to guess that the the L-UAL interns haven't been given as much of an advantage as we were led to believe. Just an observation.