Again, I never saw one company not have 100's if not thousands of resumes on hand.
Show me ONE company that said they couldn't fill seats in a class?!
If company A said they were having a hard time finding pilots, it was because THEY didn't have a compensation package comparable to the rest of the industry.
You're KILLING me... lolol
You state on one hand, show you ONE company that said they couldn't fill seats in a class, then you acknowledge that companies CAN'T fill classes because of their compensation package.
That is a shortage of pilots that will take the job at those wages, i.e., a pilot shortage, that results in increased compensation. It's the VERY DEFINITION! I don't get what you're trying to argue here because you contradict yourself.
The day that a flight cancels due to a carrier not having a qualified pilot to put into training, I'll believe there is a pilot shortage.
That happened at Pinnacle twice, got hit with a HUGE fine from Northwest in two separate quarters because we were canceling flights due to lack of flight crews because no one would take the job.
PS> You got hired at Pinnacle as a street captain? What equipment and why?
CRJ. Their own low-time pilots they hired couldn't pass the upgrade or Saab transition training, 80% failure rate on upgrade/transition, so they hired street Captains with jet command experience who COULD (95% pass rate).
They first tried to hire us as F/O's, we refused, then they'd come back in and say "OK, but you won't get paid in training". Wrong, try again. They come back in, "OK, we'll pay for your hotel and per diem in training." It was just a matter of holding out and politely refusing until they came back with an acceptable compensation package. Not great, just "acceptable".
ACA tried the same thing, bring you up as a DECA candidate, then tell you, "Oh, we're only hiring F/O's." That was a short interview. I told them I was there for a Captain slot, they said they were no longer going to hire Captains, I politely thanked them for their time (even though I was pi$$ed they had wasted mine) and got up to leave. They said, "You're not going to complete the interview?" Totally shocked them, I don't think anyone had ever done that before...
When a company can't hire, they call it a pilot shortage. You can call it what you want, but if it increases salaries and QOL, I'll take it, regardless of what you want to call it.