Agreed.
The reality is, any place that is considered 'good' (for a regional) is going to have career guys camping out at the top of the list. If you're looking to upgrade, those 'lifers' (anyone with over 10 years at a regional is a lifer, no matter what they tell you - they're in denial themselves, usually) are all in the seat you need to be in to get the PIC.
I was talking to a group of Silverwings FO's recently. All 1900's and Saabs. Guess what most of them wanted to do - get Saab FO. Now, I'm not privy to the details of Silverwings, but if everyone wants to fly the Saab, then you should fly the 1900. The goal is to get turbine PIC, not hang out in the slightly cushier Saab (it has a bathroom, a FA, etc. Nobody looks at your resume and says, "Oh wow! Saab time! We're going to hire that guy for sure. It was up in the air if it was 1900 time, but Saab time, wow (nobody does this for 747 time either, BTW, except the contracts that require time on type when the type is a 747).
Same logic at Mesa. All you guys 'poo-poo'ing Hawaii - fools. Why'd you go to Mesa? If it was the for the PHX base and western flying, you should have gone to Skywest. Whoops! Skywest had more west coast flying before Mesa started shrinking (DEN, GJT, all the ESAS 1900 bases gone), and they still do now too - hence the name, Sky
west. The rest of you went to Mesa to get someone to pay you to get the qualifications to go to a mainline carrier. Well, guess what - the place to be is Hawaii!!! Anywhere you can get PIC time is the place to be! For someone to choose to remain a FO for 'QOL' @ Mesa - are you kidding? There is no QOL as a Mesa FO (or any regional FO - yes, they really are all pretty much the same. The truth hurts, huh?). 'Sulkair' - go fly in Hawaii. I'm pretty sure you can hold CA there. Get the PIC and get out. Guys getting HNL TDY, room and food in HNL - cry me a river. Unless it was involuntary TDY, you bid it, so, you got it. Believe it or not, HNL CA was actually senior to IAD CA @ Mesa when it first opened. I'd love to do a month of Mesa TDY HNL FO - seriously. MY wife would kill me though.
For those starting in the industry, my best advice - scour the forums for whatever company is looked down upon by RJ FO's . . . then
apply there. You'll get your Turbine PIC fastest, and, if you can stand the nasty looks from 'holier than thou' RJ FO's in the terminal and the empty vitriol of the 'regional forum', you'll punch out to a mainline carrier or a foreign gig fastest. When you walk through the terminal and cruise the forums 5-6 years later, you can see the same guys, still RJ FO's or junior CA's at 'hot shot regional' complaining about their lives and putting your former employer down to make themselves feel better. They'll do anything to get that great job, the one you already have - well, anything except admit they made a bad decision by loosing focus on the most important goal of an RJ pilot - leaving.