>>They hired a female colleague I had tried to train with 600 hours who never would learn to fly. I went elsewhere. They lost my contribution (thank God), and I suspect this type of logic led to other missteps company-wide.<<
Well, in fairness to UAL, they were under a court ordered EEOC settlement for many years that required "affimative action" since the pilot force lacked "diversity". As practiced in the U.S., diversity implies people other than straight European males of non-hispanic origin. Every major airline has a diversity comittee of some form and has an obligatory statement of a commitment to diversity and preference for diverse suppliers, for example:
http://www.ual.com/page/article/0,,1365,00.html
http://www.ual.com/page/middlepage/0,1454,50126,00.html
http://www.aacareers.com/diversity.htm
http://www.nwa.com/corpinfo/profi/supplier.shtml/
UAL had a double quota system, if five percent of their applicants were female, they had to hire ten percent until the overall pilot force was five percent. After a decade or so the requirements were met and the court order was lifted.
Diversity is still a somewhat novel concept in Europe but like a lot of things that start in the U.S. (e.g. alcohol testing, locked cockpit doors) it is starting to come ashore.