I would go for it, the bashers are just a vocal few. I wish I had gone years ago. I would have earned ~ $175K more than what I had in the last 5 years. Do you understand how much that is? When the majors start hiring, you will be one of the first in line compared to if you had to stay somewhere for 5 years as a FO.

As for jumpseat commuting, don't even worry about, never had a captain not welcome a GJ pilot on board. Even if you were to buy 4 round trips a month, or one of those all you can fly annual passes, you would still come out way ahead of what a FO makes.

Good luck