The BIG question that Peter et al are alluding to, ( and a lot of the guys driving hiring ) is:
Where do you put the military guy with 5000 heavy or jet hours, or someone leaving TWA, for example, with UMPTEENTHOUSAND jet hours?
No one in their right minds would put them below a new ERAU grad at the bottom of a stapled list. Like it or not, DAL, UAL, AA are looking for these people first and foremost. I know , I work with Recruitment occasionally. We'll take 757 PIC over EMB-120 P2 anytime. Fact: they're less likely to have a washout. Have a look at our last 3 year's hiring stats/ fails...what background/experience did they have? This is an extremely expensive business....The fact is, the military/other big jet guys& gals are a sure bet. No explaining to have to do to the Chief Pilot.....
Right now, we're chronically short, looking to put bums in seats asap, with minimal chance of a sim/oral bust. New hires are going straight to the 767 International right now - I don't care what you think, DC, a new grad out of Comair Acad would be a training risk in this situation ( through no fault of his own...). Don't get me wrong: the top of Comair/ ASA would be a blessing in this situation - they've got plenty of experience ( look at the Eagle flow-throughs ), but what if the bottom guy was able to suddenly bid and hold the 767? Now what?
DeltaC and the rest need to understand that a system would have to worked out with a mainline start point for these non-ASA/ Comair people. What are you left with? A flow-through by any other name with some direct entrants thrown in.