Unfortunately that's probably going to be the case as soon as the legacy carriers realize that the reliability of their regional partners, on which they depend for a substantial amount of their system lift, could become questionable. The lobbyists will soon be out in force with threats of substantial service reductions and eliminations to smaller cities. Either the mandatory retirement age will get pushed out or eliminated completely or the new flight experience reg will get gutted......maybe both.
The unfortunate truth is that the government will quickly determine that a shortage of qualified pilots at any level of the airline system is not in the best interest of the traveling public, i.e. consumers who vote.
