Hope is all swimmers have, don’t take that away from people when you know yourself how quickly things can change
They can change quickly, however VJW is correct in saying that things may not turn out well. They haven’t on a number of occasions. I’m not sure what BA recruitment do regarding hold pool extension periods (went from 12 to 18 months when I was swimming back in 2012) however when it was over it was over. Reapply and start again was the only option. BA will never have a shortage in applicants, the fossett never seems to dry up.
Regardless, always best to have a plan B in aviation.