My not having a 4 year degree cost me 1 and possibly 2 jobs.
The first was with TWA. The commuter I was working for (Trans World Express....NO affiliation with Trans States.....) was wholly owned by TWA. When they shut the commuter down in '95, pretty much everyone who didn't already have another job got hired with TWA. I wasn't eligible, since I am undereducated (7000 hours TT wasn't enough for them I guess). No loss whatsoever!
The second was Delta. In the summer of '99 (or '00, I can't recall), a contemporary of my dads from Pan Am, who also went to DAL and was working in the office after age 60, called him up inquiring if I was interested in working for DAL. He was in a position to get me an interview. I was in my 4th year at SWA, but the pay and benefit differential at DAL made it worth at least looking into, so I decided to apply and interview. While I was filling in the UPAS, I got to the logbook grid, and before spending hours doing graduate level calculus to make it all work, I checked the minimum requirements, just to be sure. I didn't think that there was any problem, but totalling 4 years of a logbook is a lot of work. When I saw the 4 year requirement, I called my dad, who called his friend, who said (paraphrased) "I don't see there being any problem with that... I haven't seen an applicant with his time and experience in the last six months, plus, we're stealing him from SWA! I'll check and make sure". He calls back 5 minutes later, ticked off. They wouldn't waive it. He couldn't believe that they would turn down an applicant with: 5 type ratings, current and qualified on 4 different 737s, FE TJ rating with well over 10,000 hours TT, 9000 or so of it in 135/121 airline commuter experience.
That said........ I am SOOOOOO glad that I wasn't "qualified" to fly for DAL, as there was a small chance that I would've gone if hired.
Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good........
