I have no idea who and why is spreading false information about ASA furloughing. Let me assure you that they are not. I'm with Expressjet (currently merging with ASA which will be soon operationg under one operating certificate with Expressjet name), and can confirm that ASA lost some flying on Delta side to Gojet. That caused ASA to pause hiring for their current operations (CRJ) and even contemplate COLAs (no furloughs) but nothing was officially confirmed or annouced yet. As far as I know, they have been understaffed for a while and there's a possibility the decrease of flying will just create a "correct" staffing situation. The time will show...

Expressjet (ERJ operations), on the other hand, is continuosly hiring and the interviews have been performed in Atlanta by ASA only (the one you just turned down). Since the beginning of 2011 Expressjet hired around 400 new pilots and upgraded about 250. The upgrade and newhire classes are being always annouced a month or two in advance and right now we're looking at Nov. and Dec. classes scheduled and filling up. The plans for the next year are even bigger but no official announcement is expected since nothing is certain in this business, especially during a merger of two big operations.

As far as the flow between CRJ and ERJ sides is concerned (I want to avoid using ASA/XJT terminology since they soon won't exist), I wouldn't expect too much movement in the neerest future. Eventhough we will be operating under one SOC (the "old" ASA's one with "Acey" callsign and ExpressJet name) the pilot groups will be operationg two different fleets, under two different contracts untill new bargaining agreement will have been reached and single seniority list created. Knowing the complexity of this process I wouldn't expect it to happen very quickly (USA/AWE being the horrifying extreme example).

I understand there's a lot of gossip circling around the forums so I hope this clarifies some of the questions about ASA/XJT. Feel free to add or correct my info!

As for the original topic of this thread, I would encourage anyone to gain some more experience instructing or some other 91 ops before applying at 121/135 ops. As mentioned above a failure of 121/135 training is not a joke and it not worth it. Make sure you gain some flying experience and confidence and have at least 700-1000 TT. I think the 500/50 is the bottom lowest minimum you can find in the industry anyway, and this doesn't guarantee an interview even at the most "desperate" regionals (at least yet). Many assume there'll be a lot of hiring throughout the industry in the following years so you'll have plenty of choices. Good luck!