Excuse me while I speak of a reality. Great Lakes is a horribly managed airline and the pilots in the company are the lowest paid in the industry. We do not get paid while attending initial training. We do not get paid when flights are cancelled for maintenance. Our domiciles (Farmington, Pierre, Prescott, Ft Dodge, and Cheyenne) are ridiculously difficult to commute to. These are the facts and anyone who works here will state the same. There are many other detractors to list but it would take too long.
With that being said, I can say that the pilot group at Lakes is phenomenal The type of flying that we do, (no autopilot, no GPS, no Flight Attendant, no LAV, and flying 7 to 9 legs a day) requires a competent flight crew. Anyone who applied at Lakes knew exactly what they were getting into. This is not a place to linger. It is a place to come, build experience, turbine PIC time, and move on. As a guy who started at Lakes with 850 hours and has recently upgraded in just under a year, gotten his ATP and a type rating, I personally think the sacrifice was worth it.
Oh, next time your jumpseating on Frontier, United, Southwest, or any other airline, ask the Captain what he thinks about Lakers.. SEEE YA!