Pilot Exchange
I see it as a win-win for both companies and pilot groups.
It would be like a sabbatical, so to speak. Acceptance would have to be under the terms and conditions of the host carrier.
As a pilot, it would be refreshing and would avoid the burn out of repetitive routeings, company politics etc...
Just like the Military programs, pilots would come home with ideas on things done differently, some better, some not so good. Perhaps they would write a debriefing paper so all could learn from the experience.
This kind of thing would obviously not be everyone's cup of tea but I'm sure on a voluntary bid more then a few takers would pony up.
Our hosts in the Carribean were very keen on the idea as most had never flown in real IFR conditions, just as most Atlantic Canadians had never enjoyed 30c in February. As it turned out, our company in Canada (Air Atlantic) was in decline and really couldn't handle anything else on the agenda.
A couple of years ago in Vancouver we took a young woman in the jump to Calgary. She was just in from Dallas where she was visiting Southwest's operations and was going to spend a few days at WestJet HQ in Calgary before heading back to the UK where she worked for EasyJet HQ. We talked about this very thing and she seemed very keen to see this type of exchange although she referred to F/As and CSRs.
I think one of the big hurdles for us is that just like EasyJet, we are in a period of massive growth so I suspect this idea will have to wait on the backburner a while yet.