Originally Posted by
bryris
Used to be you could put in 5-6 years and 4-5k hours /w good PIC and get out. But, I wouldn't hold your breath to get off this stepping stone anytime soon. Mathematically, if you are young, you'll make it someday (in theory).
However, with the increasing allocation of major airline flying going to the regionals, the continually dropping bar of wages and QOL, the acclamation of the public to the low ticket prices (isn't undone quickly), the slew of pilots on furlough right now, the slew of current RJ captains with their stakes in the turf, etc - it'll be a loooong time before anyone who sits right seat in a RJ or even lower down the professional totem pole will make it to a major - at least in this country.
You are absolutely right it is not undone quickly. The profession didn't start it's downward slide overnight either. We need to attack on two fronts.
First: Regional pilots need to negotiate for the best contracts we can so that their costs rise and we look less appeasing to the management at the majors. In order to do that pilots have to stop going to places like GoJet because it completely undermines the ability of everyone else to negotiate better contracts. Our management will simply say: "Well look at these GoJet guys they will fly for these wages with out any work rules, how come you guys won't?"
Secondly: Major pilots need to shore up scope and protect against codeshares (watch out for future RAH 100 seat codeshares) as much as possible so that the jobs can't be farmed easily or at all.
You can't put all the blame on either regional or major pilots, everyone has blood on their hands. We can't undo the past either. However we all know what is coming next, the 100 seat "RJ." We need to work now to make it as unattractive as possible for management to give those aircraft to regionals.
It is not an easy battle and it is not one that will be won in a year or even a decade. It is a battle that will be won one contract at a time.