Before this derails into a CAL v. UAL thread the SSN method is still used for filling classes from the pool. Once a class is started, seniority is determined by age.

Twins aren't born at the same time.....unless they are Siamese twins.
My twins have different birth times (1minute apart) on their birth certificates....

It wasn't a UAL vs CAL thing. There were two different ways previously, and there is confusion over which in being used. I prefer the old CAL way of birthdate instead of SSN.

True. Didn't think about that. United doesn't ask for birth certificate, I don't think. So they'd have to get a copy to know which twin was born first.

I know a guy in the Jan. 13th class with a 1988 birthday. Not sure if he will end up being the 8 ball or not.

I don't know why we hire people that young. My experience is that the people hired really young have a sense of entitlement. The people who pay their dues tend to make better employees (and bring more to the table).

Too many highly qualified people out there waiting for their chance. I don't know why we would take someone with less experience.

First of all, experience isn't everything. There are very, VERY experienced guys that dont get selected because they wouldn't be the best fit/employees. I've come across people who have flown all sorts of aircraft and I wouldn't be thrilled at all to spend a day with them. And what about all the military guys who get hired with under 2000 TT, and none of it in the 121 environment? That's not a lot of time, but I'm sure they are deserving of it.

I don't know what your definitions of "highly qualified" and "experience" are, but flight times aren't everything. Neither is age. Hell, I've talked to numerous captains at United, and also American that got hired straight out of college. If you've worked hard and are a good fit, congratulations. I agree there are a lot of well-qualified people out there waiting for their turn, and it's not always fair. Some guys, young and not so young, catch some pretty lucky breaks... but there's no need to knock someone because they're not as old as the next guy. Congrats to the lucky duck.

Plus they have no way of telling how old someone is when they come to the interview. They specifically ask interviewees to obscure date of birth on all documents you bring in. The guy was probably invited because of a combination of experience/connections. Once there, all bets are off, you have to be a good fit, and make the interviewing pilot feel like they would want to fly with you on a multi-day trip. Congrats to the guy, he'll be there long after I retire.

I was hired in 1999 at UAL at 27. I thought I had the world by the ball$. 2 year Captains, 700 airplanes. $$$$$.

Reality: 2 furloughs, 1 bankruptcy, age 65 and a merger later it's still a good job but not as rosy as it seemed at 27......

I obviously wasn't talking about military guys. They don't usually get out by their mid 20's.

I remember seeing this pilot with 250 hours explaining how she worked hard to get her ratings and was a great pilot (all 4 seat GA). She was confident that she deserved the job at UAL more than a 10,000 hour Eastern pilot who lost his job in '89.

Interns, "my dad worked here", other EEOC bucket people....they all found a short cut. Good for them. It's perfectly OK. I retract my previous post.

(Where's the "sarcasm" emoji??) :D

I would just like to see these people maintain a VERY humble attitude. They didn't have to spend the full 15 years gaining experience that our average new hire pilot has to suffer through.

All too often, these folks think they got hired young since they "deserved it".

I spent many years at the commuters watching UAL hire off the bottom of our list. The "special people" were F/O's who made it into one of the coveted "buckets". It never seemed right.

Oh well. Not a major concern for me. Just a minor annoyance.