Lastly, this incident happened at the tail-end of a tough labor action from the pilots's union. Did that affect anything, e.g., Allegiant's perception of the incident?
I believe the Allegiant pilots are currently trying to get released from mediation to give the union leverage with a strike threat.
Traditionally getting fired during contract negotiations opened a chance for a return to work through the bargaining process.
In years past, pilot contract negotiations would drag out for months and years under the arcane rules prescribed in the Railway Labor Act of 1926 (as amended).
Almost always, some of the rah-rah union rabble rousers would go out and do something stupid to 'stick it to the company' and get themselves fired. They 'knew' that they would get their jobs back when the new contract was settled. The union would call these folks 'hostages' and 'making them whole' would be part of the final contract settlement, usually covered in 'side letters' to the tentative agreement.
Inevitably, a few folks who had been fired for stuff that had nothing to do with contract negotiations would wrap themselves in the union mantle and claim that they were terminated in retaliation for their legally protected union activities. Sometimes they would successfully return to work with the other 'hostages'.
I remember a colleague who embezzled thousands of dollars with phony overseas kids' tuition bills coming back after a couple of years flying night freight and later retiring from an airline based near the Barbecue Kitchen. The airline VP of Ops was in the same Boat School class and that helped get Hank included in the contract settlement.
Another guy got caught lying about his simultaneous employment at two airlines and got fired at both. He was able to later claim that he was 'on the bus in 1985' with United and got one of his jobs back with 'adjusted' seniority.
Not sure how this will play out at Allegiant. Times have changed, the pilots are working on their first contract and this union is not noted for representing the best interests of pilots in my opinion.