try the last 16 years...

You can NOT plan to destroy your ability to earn a living at a regional, on the hopes that you will go to a mainline job later. You are one 9-11 away from being a lifer at a regional through no fault of your own. A major war, an economic collapse... a host of things could happen that will result in you staying exactly where you are now, perhaps even displacing back to FO if you're a CA... or being furloughed if your an FO. Your best bet is to make your job the best it can be, not sell it out on the hopes of going elsewhere. Don't be a sell out. Besides, do you really think a mainline HR department staffed with line Captains wants a bunch of pilots who have proven they can't even stand up for themselves? You guys have FO's on food stamps and in poverty wages and you're still accepting concessions from PROFITABLE companies? Please do NOT come to my airline and infect our pilot group with that kind of negotiating skill. No wonder we prefer to hire military pilots, they've proven they will fight for something.

Do Doctors force their young to work for poverty wages for years and years at a time... are all General Practicioners just "apprentice" Doctors until they become specialists? Do they go back to appretice wages simply by changing employer?

Do lawyers force their young to work for poverty wages for years and years? are all of them "apprentice" lawyers until they become an associate? Are their rates any cheaper? Do they go back to apprentice wages simply by changing law firms?

Do Carpenters, Plumbers or Electricians go back to being apprentices if they switch jobs?

You have a lot of growing up to do. Please do so before coming to a mainline company. We can't afford you.